One Wish for Hope: Beginnings
by Rhomulus
Summary: One single simple wish from a lonely 4 year old boy changes the future and a new character is added. My first naruto story. I am in the process of cleaning and expanding the story. Look for the revisions soon.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Naruto. This is my imagination taking me for a ride.

Darius , however, is mine.

**Prolouge:**

Whats it mean to be a Hero, a Legend.... Many have sought out the position, few have succeeded in accomplishing this, but even fewer had to live with dealing with the consequences of becoming a legend. Shining cities, friends, loved ones, all depending on you....

"Kill that Demon, he stole some gardening tools from the yamanaka shop!!!" a villager said. A large crowd had gathered to chase the boy and teach the thing a lesson about stealing, about being alive. It dared to live in kohona, it mocked their very existance daily.

"I did not steal these tools, i bought them!!!" the boy said. His dirty brown hair ruffled as he ran through the streets for his life. It was just another day for him. Hate, anger, injury, blood, pain, all rolled into one everyday for the young kyubbi container.

He escaped, managing to loose them in an alley and headed out to his favorite vantage point in all of kohona. He had long stopped crying. No one wanted to be his friend. No one wanted to play with him. No one understood his pain. Except here, he looked up at the vast starlight sky. High above konoha, a single star suddenly formed above the city and streaked across the sky, falling just behind the mountains... A young blond boy, no older than 4 watched it fall, making a wish for a friend that twilight. The boy quickly dashed down from the hokage monument... some distance away, he discovered a boy with golden hair similar but darker than his, no older than 5 laying slumped over a rock, covered in what appeared to be blankets and oversized clothes... in his hand he held a medallion of violet with a dragon symbol carved on it ... and a single name on an oversized shirt... Darius

Inside the hyuuga compound, a ninja darted around carrying a large sack. The night was clear nad he had accomplished his task. The newly formed star caught the ninjas attention and watched as it flew over head and behind the Hokage monument. The dull thud and explosion suddenly startling the ninja's prize... "DADDY!!!!!".

Sarutobi watched, and grew very concerned. Three events had transpired to shape the future to come. Two orphaned boys and one scared girl.

They questioned the boy for any answers but got none from him. only a strange glazed look that stayed for a few days. Hinata was brought in for examination by the doctors, her face shared darius's. glazed and unresponsive. Naruto's impromptu accident caused them all to burst out in laughter as he fell, clutching the only thing near enough to him, the doctors pants, whihc dropped to reveal boxers with little pnik hearts on them. Naruto smiled sheepishly. And this is where their friendship started.

Onyx eyes watched the scene from a dark place, a whispered laugh followed by one word...... perfect.

**Chapter 1 – Friends at the Academy**

_8 years later_

He walked onto the play ground, where he saw several familiar faces from the academy... Shikamaru, ino (_she was cute_ he thought), Hinata... staring at naruto again.... Naruto, his best friend in this village. Ever since that day he was rescued from the explosion, he was an orphan and he and naruto became good friends, but he was rather... mischevious but fun loving... and lonely. He never could understand why the village hated him and tormented him so much. They shared a lot in common, both had no family they could remember, both orphans. Hinata was a good friend but the hyuuga clan did not take kindly to the boys. Orphans were beneath them and the hyuuga heiress was dis swayed from keeping their friendship. Still over the years, they had managed to at least remain friends with her. It was just a few months ago darius had discovered hinata's staring.

"Hi naruto, been busy lately?" he asked.

"Darius, you know me..." Naruto said, with that fox grin on his face.

"_Gods, what did you do now Naruto" Darius wondered..._

Darius smiled, but naruto hide the pain of his loneliness well.... It was then that he noticed her staring at him...

"Hey hinata!!" naruto exclaimed, watchign as she reacted with a quick eep and her face turned a crimson colour.

"h-hh-hello, n n naruto, darius" she weakly responded looking down at the ground.

Darius smiled, bowing a bit as she came over, " good day, hinata, are you ready for the exam today?"

"yeah, I bet you are gonna mop the floor with them hinata!", naruto interjected, with his usual gung ho attitude.

"i-i will t-t-try my b-best naruto", she was turning a bright shade of red. Pushing her fingers together, trying to busy herself without losing anymore courage. She weakly smiled up at him.

"You will do fine hinata, you are a hyuuga after all" darius said, sitting down against a tree while naruto was sitting in his swing. Hinata took a seat on a bench nearest to Naruto

"Still practicing at the training grounds naruto?", darius asked.

"yeah, I think I finally can beat that smug teme now, wait till he sees what I can do" naruto smirked...

"Darius why don't you come and train with me, your really good at all the lessons and I could use the pointers too, besides I dont think you train yourself hard enough" naruto said.

"You know me, my heads not in the game right now, besides, I get enough work out from just exploring here and there, even though it makes me late to class. I think Iruka hates that, even thou I get good marks" darius commented

Hinata looked up curious, " where I Is it y you go Darius?"

"Adventuring, I found this great place beyond the lake and around a bluff, its tranquil and serene, heck I bet it would make a great training area for the training addict here" Darius said. He laughed a little on the inside. He turned his gaze to where the cute blonde ino was sitting, but she and Sakura were already fighting over who would sit next to sasuke.

"Sometimes I get my friend to go with me, when I can drag him away from his training"

"Ah, come on, I don't always train Darius" Naruto said.

"No, when you aren't training your chowing down on ramen or sleeping, you have not come with me in a few weeks, I think you are going soft. Besides, how can you eat so much of that stuff" Darius chuckled.

"Hey, im tough" naruto said. "After we graduate how about you show me the place, I bet I can make it easy"

"N-N-Naruto, m-may I c-come?" Hinata interjected. She could not believe the words came out of her mouth and quickly cast her shy eyes to the ground.

"Yeah, that would be great, we could all go and practice!" Naruto said oblivious.

Darius sighed, "Hinata are you sure its alright, I am not one to get on the hyuuga's bad side, especially by risking the safety of their clan heir. Your father wold kill us if anything bad happened to you"

"y-y-yes, b-but im sure t-that their wont b-b-be any p-p-problems... " she stammered. She hated being so shy. So weak.

Naruto looked rather dumb founded at the statement, " whats that mean hinata, are you like some sort of princess or something". He stood their scratching his head.

She smiled and nodded shyly.

"Wow, don't worry, ill protect you!" naruto said proudly. "And I never go back on my word, believe it"

Darius smiled, still with that stubborn attitude. As he got up, The medallion clinked around his neck, as it hung on its silvery chain.

Hinata looked and noticed it for the first time.

"darius, w-what is that" she asked curious.

"The only thing I have to remind me of the past" he said

"I found him in the mountains the day of the festival 8 years ago. Some sort of accident left him an orphan like me", Sadness entering Naruto's mind of that day.

Hinata looked down, very sadly as the date entered her mind.

The bell rang and they began to file into the room, naruto sitting next to hinata, Darius sat in the front row, next to Ino, who viewed him with some disdain since it wasn't sasuke that was sitting next to her. He smiled calming her down with a cheerful hello. Ino thought he looked rather rough but something she couldn't help caused her to smile back at him.

The Test day was on them and Darius was up first, he managed to pass, and wore his marker on his shoulder. Hinata was nervous but Naruto's encouragement and support, she passed as well. Naruto, however, still had the problem with his Bushin... Darius felt sad for his friend, his best friend. Hinata felt like she was dying a little inside as naruto ran out.

"Lets Go after him Darius" Iruka said. Hinata had already dashed after him as fast as she could as Iruka and Darius quickly followed.

They lost his trail but kept looking. The twilight turned to early evening and Hinata was still looking. She prayed that he would be alright and ran thoughts through her mind about what to say to try and cheer Naruto up. The deep thought she was in prevented her from crashing into him outside the hokage mansion.

"oh, sorry, sorry, I wasn't.... Hinata?"

"N-Naruto!" she said. She sighed in relief, but then noticed something different... on his back.... a scroll case... with a mark of...

She gasped

"N-nnnn naruto, is that the f-f-forbidden s-scroll" she asked meekly.

"Ah yea, I got it from the Hokages mansion, Mizuki said if I did, I could pass with a technique I can learn from it and be a ninja like you and Darius!" Naruto stood there for a moment, scratching the back of his head.

Hinata heard people coming. Naruto suddenly darted into the forest, dragging a poor hinata with him.

He pulled her through the forest until he found a secluded clearing up ahead. It took hinata a moment to realize, naruto had held her hand, before her face flushed red and she passed out in front of him.

Naruto caught her mid fall.

_Oh man, she must have hit a branch on her head or something_. He looked over her to make sure that she was ok. No bruise and she was breathing normally, like she was asleep.

At least shes ok he said leaning her gently against a tree. He removed his jacket and covered her with it. He pulled the scroll out and looked over it, looking for a technique to call his own...ah, Kage Bushin no jutsu. Ah man, thats my worst jutsu, naruto thought. Still he had to get better.

Hinata awoke a few hours later, wondering where she was. Her eyes slowly focused and saw she was in the forest and naruto's jacket was lying on her to keep her warm.

Naruto she thought aloud.

"oi, hey hinata, I see you finally are awake, did a tree branch hit you when we were running here?" naruto asked

Hinata blushed and meekly nodded a yes, hiding the fact that her feelings caused her to faint.

"There you are Naruto, I thought you might be here!" Darius said as he and Iruka came out from the forest.

"Naruto I know you want to be recognized but how could you steal that scroll.... you are in a lot of trouble" Iruka yelled at him.

"But mizuki said said that if I learned some techniques from this scroll, you will have to let me pass" Naruto said.

_Mizuki._..Iruka thought

"Watch this great jutsu I learned iruka!" but before he could execute the technique, iruka pushed him out of the way as a hail of kunai's flew at naruto, hitting iruka in several spots all over his body.

"yeah I told him about the scroll" muzuki smirked as he landed nearby.

"Naruto, Darius get hinata and the scroll out of here, what ever you do, dont let him have that scroll!"Iruka yelled. Darius grabbed his friends and ran a short distance, trying to weave in the trees to lose the guy. Mizuki may be a ninja, but darius knew this place well enough to hide his friends.

" come out and give me that scroll you brat!" mizuki snarled.

"ill tell you the truth about that day, 12 years ago, why no one lieks you and if your 2 friends there knew, they would fear you naruto!"

"NO! Mizuki, thats forbidden to speak of... you can't"

Darius knew he was getting closer to them and hinata was scared. Darius could see she was scared for naruto.

"A rule was made, but that rule you were never told about naruto, never supposed to know..."

Naruto was shocked and couldn't stop listening, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. What wasn't he supposed to know.

Mizuki laughed evilly..."you are never to be told that you hold sealed in you the nine tailed fox, the demon that killed iruka's parents and many other villagers that day, you are that monster naruto!!!"

Hinata gasped and Darius hung his head... he heard the movement and knew where they were.. he leaped spinning a huge shuriken in his hand, intent on getting his power by what ever means it took...

"And now you all will die!"

Naruto couldn't believe it... he was a monster... Darius and hinata saw him as he threw the shuriken at naruto. A sickening thud came from above naruto and he saw that Darius had dove in front of it. Darius stumbled back from where he took the shuriken, clasping his chest, one end of the shuriken was broken, striking the medallion he wore.

"Don't listen to him naruto, he just wants the scroll, even if says thats the truth, you are still my friend" Darius said. "Get out you 2, get back to the hokage!" Darius lost consciousness for a few moments as the blow had knocked the wind out of him.

Hinata grabbed naruto and ran. Hard and fast. Its was adrenaline, driving her without thinking.

"thats 2 down naruto, and when im done with that little girl, you will beg me to kill you and everyone will think im the hero..."

Naruto stopped hinata. His face became determination and anger.

"n-no, n-n-naruto, w-w-we have to k-keep running" she said. But she could see the determination in his eyes.

Mizuki jumped down, a giant shuriken spinning in his hands."Time to die!", Mizuki cackled And he began to throw it, aiming for hinata.

"Naruto!" she yelled.

"Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

The area was filled with naruto clones, more than a thousand. Mizuki lost his concentration on his Shuriken and it fell to the forest floor with a dull clank.

"how. How did you...

"I will protect Hinata, I made a promise. And you wont hurt my friends, ever again!!" Naruto stated. "This is gonna hurt" he smirked.

_Protect.... me?_Hianta thought, _hes protecting me. Why is he doing that.._

Iruka was helping Darius up and they witnessed it. Darius and Iruka were awed.

"Iruka-sensei, how!?"

Mizuki was left a bloody pulp, beaten and bruised, his manged faced twitched and convulsed as he let out a soft pain groan and whimpered.

It was at that time, iruka gave naruto his headband and told him he passed... he couldn't be happier, his friends were happy, and hinata never lost faith in him.

Sarutobi had been watching it all through the crystal ball... _this will be interesting...._

They stood in the Hokages office while.. Iruka explaining te situation to the four of them.

Sarutobi sighed, " given the cirumstances of this incident, im willing to say that no one here will be punished. Further more, you 4 helped stop an agent of orichimaru and for that given credit for your first a rank mission complettion...

"Hokage-sama, forgive me for what I am about to say but, is it true? What mizuki said" darius asked " that naruto has the kyub..." Sarutobi stopped darius mid sentence.

"Yes, that is true.. the 4th tried to make it so that everyone would see naruto as a hero but they didn't respect his last wish, so I made an order that none of the adults could tell naruto or their children about the kyubbi... but they passed the hate of that monster on to them anyway...." sarutobi said sadly.

"hinata, your Gaurdian has sent a House member to return you to the estate, he has been informed that you have completed an A rank mission"

Hinata looked down and the kyuuga memeber entered... Neji hyuuga.

Darius whispered, "hey isn't that the number 1 rookie from last year naruto?"

"Hinata, please come with me" neji said coldly. She looked down and slowly walked out.

"see you later hinata and thanks," naruto said. She stopped nodded shyly and left with neji. Neji paused for a moment at the door, shooting a cold stare at naruto and darius.

"what was that about?"...Darius muttered. Naruto meet his cold glare with his eyes as they left.

"Darius, here is your share of the mission pay out" sarutobi said handing him his share.

Darius stammered at the amount, "Thank you Hokage sama! May we be excused please, we need to go and celebrate!"

"By all means, please" Sarutobi responded with a fatherly smile. " iruka, please stay so we can work out the team pairings."

Darius and Naruto ran out... Darius never had this much to spend before....The gears were already turning in his head.

"Iricharu's ramen is on me naruto!" Darius smirked before being left in a cloud of dust by naruto...Darius wondered how he could love ramen that much...


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Naruto. Im letting my imagination run wild with this.

Darius is, of course, mine**.**

**Chapter 2 Teams**

Darius Browsed the isles of the flower shop, unable to decide.... roses, nah, too plain... Carnations... possibly...

"May I help you with something young man?", came a voice behind him.

"Yes maam, im looking for a pretty flower to pick to give to someone.... any advice?" Darius asked.

"Well, that all depends, everyone has different tastes and likes, I take it that this someone is a girl?" the woman asked.

"Ummm,,, yeah, shes got such pretty blonde hair and we had such a nice conversation yesterday... I thought it would be a nice sign of friendship to give her a pretty flower....

the woman thought for a moment and then handed him a delicate looking flower, I think this will do for freindship she said.

He held a beautful golden flower, delicate and yet strong looking, it had an intense fragrance that it suddenly took him back for a moment.....

Young man, the woman asked, shaking him out of his day dream... are you alright?

"Oh yes, thanks", he said dropping the money on the counter and dashing out. "Dont want to be late for my first day....!"

Naruto was there early, Hinata sitting next to him, a look of embarassment on her face...Sasuke being fought over by Sakura and Ino, the others looked bored as Darius walked in, _just made it he thought_

"Ino, ummm, I wanted to... give this ….. to say thanks for being a friend and all" he started to say, holding the flower to her.

"See Ino-PIG, you already got Him.. Sasuke is mine!" Sakura said.

"whoa, wait a sec, its just a gift, right darius, for being a friend. Tell FORE HEAD THAT!!!"

"Ummm, yes...." Darius sheepishly replied.

"OK that will be enough" Iruka said as he walked in the door. His look of dissatisfaction with the certain fan girls was driving him up an unclimbable wall.

"I have your team assignments, Darius please take a seat", Iruka motioned to Darius to sit next to Ino.

She cast him a bossy smile and whispered thanks to him before turning her attention to the class.

Iruka started to list the names of the teams and their jounins that would be guiding them.

Team 7 was Kiba, Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura mocked ino for getting sasuke. Their Sensei was Kakashi Hatake.

Team 8 was Darius, Naruto and Hinata, their sensei was Kurenai.

Team 9 was Chouji, shikamaru and ino and asuma was their sensei.

Iruka indicated that Shino Abramue was being sent off for special trainign with his family for a time.

Naruto was visibly happy that he got his 2 friends, but sad and annoyed because sakura was teamed with the teme.

Hinata was wide eyed when she discovered naruto would be on her team, she thought she might faint but managed to keep your self conscious, she had to be strong and determined as Naruto was, and not hold him back.

Darius had mixed emotions. He was glad to be on his friends team and yet, kind of hoped that ino would be on his team too. He let out a sigh.

"hey, why the sigh?" Ino asked. "At least hinata is on your team, shes a hyugga and they have the bloodline." Darius faked a weak smile. "Besides, I bet you can beat the pants of that naruto brat".

Darius turned, "Ino, Naruto is my friend, and hes strong. Stronger than what you might realize, give him some slack ok?" she shrugged and congratulated them before she and her team mates left out the door to meet their sensei.

Team 7 was already gone.

Hinata looked nervous but suddenly smiled as she saw the red eyed kurneai walk into the room to meet them. Her sadness seemed to melt in the presence of their sensei.

**Flashback**

Meeting in the hyuuga compund, Kurneai was told that she would be caring for hinata for now. Her gaurdian, Hizashi hyuuga believed that she was weak and that the hyuuga needed stronger blood. Hinata had heard the words and she felt like such a failure.

**End Flashback**

She hugged Hinata like a mother would and hinata seemed to cheer up.

Darius and Naruto had never seen her look so , well, happy.

"I am your Sensei Kurneai Yuhi. From this day forth, you are gennin, the lowest class of ninjas. Be prepared to work as hard as you can if you ever expect to became better than that. Today, lets just get to know one another."

Kurneai pointed to Naruto.."you first whiskers..."

"My name is Naruto Uzamaki and my goal is to become the strongest ninja to prove the village that I am worthy of praise and to protect my two best friends, hinata and darius. Some day I will be the greatest Hokage ever! Believe it"

Hinata smiled, he always showed so much strength, she wanted to be like him.

Kurneai nodded

"well you have a lot of work ahead of you naruto if you want to be hokage, but never give up on your dreams. She added.

Kurneai pointed to Darius, "ok, who are you and tell us something about yourself"

Darius smiled" my Name is Darius, I have no clan so its just darius. I was found in the mountains above the village almost a decade ago by my friend naruto and raised int e orphanage. I hope to be a great ninja someday and see the wonders abroad, they say I have a bad case of wandering. I like Exploring and Naruto and hianta are my friends."

Kurneai smiled, "well you are a pleasant fellow, tell us what the medallion is for?"

Darius cradled it in his hand, "I'm actually not sure, its an heirloom of the past the the only thing that keeps me connected to the past. From the past, we can learn what transpires in the present to shape the future." Darius wondered where that came from....

"An astute answer, hinata, why dont you go next even though I am familiar your friends may not be" kurneai smiled down at her.

:M-my n-name is Hinata Hyuuga and i-i-i am the heiress of hyuuga. I-I-I like to cook and p press flowers and b-be w-with my friends. I- want to bbbe stronger and c-change my clan for the b-better." Hinata felt so red all of a sudden.

"Dont worry, hinata, with me and darius around, we will help and ill always protect my friends!" Naruto interjected.

"_Loud isnt he" _Kurenai thought.

"Excellent now that we are all acquainted, lets go and begin our training, we have a lot of work ahead of us, especially team work. Thats what I want to focus on more than anything. A team that can not work together is useless and we want to be useful ninjas" kurneai stated coldly.

They traveled together out to the training area but they found the area had been destroyed, torn to pieces by a contest Lee and Gai had made.

"well this won't do" kurenai stated.

"ooo, oo, what about using that place you found darius to train at!? Could we do that instead sensei?" naruto stated.

She raised an eyebrow and asked, " and where might his be Darius"

"theres a place not far from here, probably about 20-30 mintues of hiking around a bluff... I haven't seen any sign of it being discovered the last time I went but its secluded and serene, sensei. We had planned to make a trip of it and this might be a good time as ever." Darius said.

"Well, why dont we gather our things and we can set out for it in an hour then?" Kurenai said.

It was about 2 hours later that they found themselves at the spot that darius had said. The bluff provided cover and a clearing a good cam and training site. Several practice dummies were already set out, with kunais and shurikens sticking out of them.

"this will do nicely indeed and im going to start off by teaching you all to enhance your chakra control, except for you hinata" kurneai told tehm. " I want you to begin on your taijutsu practice. Naruto will be your sparring partner"

"lets do our best hinata" naruto said.

"h-hai" hinata said shyly.

Naruto ran at hinata with a raised fist, which she easily sidestepped. He managed to dodge the come back strikes, with suprising agility that hinata knew would not stop her if she would go all out. Kunai flew, shurikens, dodges, parries, the battle lasted for about 10 minutes before a leg sweep knocked naruto down on his pride, with a determined faced hinata looking at him, "yield!?" Her hands an inch from his face.

"yes, wow hianta that was awesome" naruto praised her. She bowed to him, but she felt like he was holding back on her.

"Darius its your turn and I shall be your opponent" kKurneai said as she got up.

"Yes sensei, but I would like to protest first, they fought each other and I am fighting a jounin, I think the odds are against me." darius stated.

"We shall see darius" kurneai said with a smirk.

Darius un sheathed a straight blade, slightly wider than most. She could see the balance was near perfect. Darius then took up an odd stance, something that she hadn't seen before, it most certainly was kenjutsu, but what she couldn't tell. Naruto watched and hinata used her Byakugan to observe the battle. She was impressed by the fury and the boy had skill, the technique was some combination and showed proficiency with it, but kurneai ended the battle within a minute.

Hinata shook her head a bit, noticing that his chakra seemed to ebb and burst strangely.

"very skilled darius and you are right, you were outmatched but I wanted to test your resolve and you clearly will not back down." Kurenai said.

A smile to them all and kurneai got deadly serious, they started with walking on trees, exerting them selves to their limit over and over again through out the day. They slept at the site, secluded. , the light of konoha no longer obstructing the stars.

"This is why I come here, for that" Daris said smiling, showing his friends, a great field of stars, even some nebula appeared.

He pointed to one particular star and told his friends to watch and it suddenly burst into light blazing brightly for a few minutes before the light began to fade and it returned to it original luminosity.

"That was impressive darius, how did you know that would happen?" naruto asked.

Darius thought for a moment and said, "I don't know, something said look there and it happened."

He got up and excused himself, wandering around tot he edge of the lake. Naruto had already fallen asleep and kurneai and hinata slipped in their tent, to sleep away the work of the day

_How did I know that Erandi would do that_.. darius thought.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 3 Missions**

Three months later, they had learned a few techniques honed their control of chakra and worked on most importantly, their team work. D rank missions seemed to bore naruto, they lacked a challenge for his tastes. Darius and hinata didnt seem to mind, darius got to see other sights and hinata got to be closer to naruto.

Kurneai stood before sarutobi and started her evaluation"

"Darius is a skilled traditional tracker, he could read the signs that were before him like a page in a book and understand what they meant. He improved daily in his kenjutsu and his form and style is unorthodox but effective. He proved adept at chakra conrol and was an effective in close fighter and long distance fighter with the bow and arrow. He is also very intelligent and can size his opponent in a look. I would like to note that he displayed a personal ninjutsu/kenjutsu combination during our training that shows promise.

Naruto also proved to be an excellent tracker, his shadow clones provided him with excellent recon capability and they relayed information back to him about what transpired. His huge chakra reserves also did well for his technique. His jutsu skills were lacking but they improved everyday. Kyubbi probably hurt his control a lot but he was suited for very powerful jutsus. While the boy may act stupid, it is a facade, because is is clever and unpredictable.

Hianta, is the most adept at tracking and had excellent taijutsu form. The byakugan ability allowed her to see all around her, giving her sight a 360 degree view and suprise attacks would always fail against her. Her Jukken style of combat proved very effective for ambushing and she had a perfect ability at chakra control. There is no genjutsu that can overcome her byakugan and she has shown me just how adept she can be using them. She already knows a few b rank genjutsu's."

Kurneai finished her evaluation to Sarutobi before he handed them their first mission, a rank C mission.

Kurneai bowed and thanked the hokage and left. "_Finally a challenge for them",_ she thought..

Darius had just returned to the store where he bought ino the first flower... noticing chijo and shikamaru there already. He waved and walked up to them.

Choji was busy tearing through a sack of patato chips, putting them all way like they were going out of style.

Shikamaru, lazy as ever, had his back to the wall, leaning against it, the troubled look always on his face.

"Yo Choji and Shikamaru, what brings you guys here?" Darius asked. He pulled his back pack off and put it to his side.

"Choji, why do you do that to yourself, those things are gonna kill you one day... your as bad as naruto and ramen..." darius questioned.

"yeah but I need the energy to keep up my strength and for my growth spurt" choji said as he went back to his destroying the bag.

"Ino's inside and we are waiting on her" shikamaru plainly said. "what brings you by Darius?"

"oh I discovered some new plant species that I wanted to show Ino's mom, she likes to help me idntify new plant species and its part of my hobby." Darius smiled.

"troublesome" shikamaru muttered.

About that time Ino appeared from the shop, " hi guys, Darius, brought more plants for my mother to see?" she said.

Darius dug into his bag and produced a plant in a pot. He scratched his head and told her it was new to him and he had never seen one in konoha. Ino starred at the plant a moment and smiled.

"Hows your missions going darius? We are meeting asuma later to see what our next mission is"

"only d rank, naruto gets so bored with them and hinata makes them too easy, especially since our team has been classified as a tracking team. Still, they are experience as kurneai says but I am beginning to take naruto's opinion of them. I want a challenge." darius said.

"i know the feeling, but shika here is too lazy to want a real challenge. And Choji only eats it seems to notice how boring these missions are. I heard Sakura and her team already got a c rank mission to escort a guy to a bridge yesterday. Forebrow sure is lucky she has sasuke all to her self." Ino stated, placing her left arm on her hip and swaying it out, smiling.

Darius wondered what it was that drew him to Ino.

" well, I got to run anyhow, nice talking with you guys and good luck Ino." he waved as he grabbed his pack and stepped inside the shop.

"honestly ino, that guy has the strangest hobbies, " Choji said." what do you see in that guy that makes you that talkative and not bossy"

Ino often wondered the same thing, as she watched him show her mother his latest discovery.

She shrugged and left, following her team down the street.

Naruto and hinata were walking, when naruto noticed iruchi ramen.

Hinata eyed the stores and was buying groceries for kurneais house. She showed naruto her favorite jewlery shop, and where she got her kunai's made and reworked.

"i guess being the heiress means your rich hinata, I could never afford those things" naruto said

hinata looked down, and her eyes saddened. "y yes n naruto, b but thats not I important to me

His eyes went wide and he salivated at the thought of tasting ramen right then and there.

"Hinata theres irichui's, lets go have ramen! I 'll buy, my treat!" he excalimed.

Hianta suddenly shuddered and wondered if naruto had suddenly asked her on a date but she quickly dismissed it from her mind.

"o,o,ok naruto" she answered softly.

"ooo, what kind of ramen do you like hinata, I love miso ramen, its the best, but to be honest I could eat just about any kind at iruichi's."

Hinata blushed, he was asking what she thought.

"Hai, I I like miso too n naruto" she answered...

"hinata are you ok, you are all red and and sweating, are you getting sick?" naruto ansewered.

"n, n, no I im fffine naruto, really" she smiled sweetly, but the blush didnt go away.

The sat at a booth and ayame came over" hi naruto, the usual I... oh, whos your girlfriend here. Shes pretty? Ayame inquired.

"Ayameee! She's not my girl friend, shes my team mate, isnt that right hinata" Naruto turned to see hinata passed out in her seat. As great crimson glow covered her entire body.

"hunh, guess she was tired... umm ayame, can I have four to go please and delivered, I should get hinata back to kurneai senseis place." naruto asked, looking at the sleeping form of his team mate.

He bent down and noticed in his mind the first time, just how beautiful she was.. ayame was right.

Bending down, he scooped his team mate in his arms and carried her back to his sensei's house.  
Hinata was having the most wonderful dream right now and muttered out loud," naruto" softly as she slept.

Naruto got to kurneai's palce and let himself in, finding that kurneai was gone. He found hinatas room and laid her sleeping form down gently in her bed and quietly snuck out. And waited. Not long after Darius showed up, totting that explorers bag he always carried. At about this time, Kurneai came in with Asuma, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru. Hinata, who had the best dream she could remember, joined them and sat close to naruto, the crimson red returning everytime she looked at Naruto. Naruto wondered what was going on as asuma and kurneai began to go over the details of the mission.

"this is a joint team mission and its to set out immediately. Just yesterday, the hokage was informed that Team 7 had encountered heavy resistance in escorting back the bridge builder, enough so that kakashi is out of commission. There is some trouble with a group of chunnin and a jounin class bandit that we are setting out to back them up. Hes got other missing nins in his party, and we have to do whatever it takes to make this mission a success. "Asuma said plainly.

Ino asked, "sensei, are we still protecting the villagers or are we sent out after the missing nions." They all looked at our senseis.

Kurneai answered, " both, since gai's team is out already, we are the only two teams in konoha that they can send. Our primary goal Is to secure the bridge and its safety and then to bring the bodies of the missing nins in if we can as a secondary objective..."

"troublesome" shikamaru answered.

Naruto looked eager and everyone was ready for the worst. They all left in a hurry that day, darius was always ready, he always kept himself packed for missions and his exploring.

"Guess we are going off together on our first a rank mission... hope team 7 is alright..." Darius said as he and ino ran...

She glanced and smiled at him, " of course they are, they have sasuke and kakashi, theres no way sasuke can loose." she retorted.

Darius sighed, still a fan girl as ever.

Naruto and hinata ran with kurenai, both of them were focused on their missions. Both determined to show them the strength they had gained to everyone.

The day turned to twilight and the twilight gave way to evening, it was late by the time they arrived at the house of the bridge builder. Kiba was on guard duty, and akamaru was helping him watch.. akamru barked something and kiba turned to the team of 8 approaching the house in the night.

Kakashi was in bed, overuse of his sharingan, sakura was bandaging sasuke who looked lsot and really angry. The bridge builders family greeted the new group as they enetered. Asum and kurneai left to talk to Kakashi while the rest of us were down stairs, the kohona 9 all in one room.

"so, whats this guy like then kiba?" asked naruto.

Kiba described him, Zabuza, one of the seven swords of the mist. Scary, with a huge sword, and described the battle, almost killed kakashi if sasuke and kiba hadn't stopped him. That when zabusa revealed that the bridge builder was being targeted by a man named gato. He ran things around here with an iron fist and had several rough looking bodyguards. Kakashi overused his sharingan, and a missing nin managed to kill zabusa. Naruto, hinata and shikamaru went out for watch while sasuke and sakura rested. Darius, ino and kiba rested.

"mm, clear night, the calm before the storm..." darius commented calmly.

"Darius, quiet.." ino replied. "how can you be so calm right now, we could be ambushed any second?"

"dunno I just, am, like its old hat or something" darius calmly responded.

Naruto, hinata and shika were releived them a few hours later so they could eat and sleep.

Darius, Ino and Kiba kept a close eye as the sun began to break

Kurneai and asuma in the mean time were talking to kakshi, informing him of who was their and to get reports of the actions that took place after wards. The missing nin, the bandits, the hokages concerns and hopes.

"i dont trust this missing nin kakashi, its all too convenient for it to be happening. We should be on guard just in case the nin is not on our side." Kurneai said.

"Kakashi and Asuma Agreed, and kakashi noticed a strange interaction from both of them. He thoguth that maybe, they were.... well this is interesting he said as he rested.

Sasuke got up, unable to sleep, and his anger was apparent, he wanted to practice on these missing nins and this gato.

In the morning, they escorted the builder to the bridge to finish the work and as expected gato was waiting for them, with a large mob of men.

Naruto and Sasuke were their usual selves. Since it would be a week tillt eh bridge would be finished, they were given extra time to train and relax before the missing nins would be a problem. Kurenai, asuma and kakashi took it upon themselves to fromulate a plan. The team size was unusually large but they would have the advantage of suprise as well.

On the third day, Sasuke and Naruto were sparring. Sasuke trying to prove his superiority over naruto and finally expalined why.

I have to kill my brother naruto. He's the one that killed everyone closest to me. But i am not getting strong fast enough. No matter what i do and then you... "Sasuke continued" you were dead alst in the class and now, here you are, fighting me on equal terms. How did you do it naruto. Tell me!" His voice while angry, sounded like almost like he was asking to naruto.

"I...I... don't know....I just was fighting for my friend, those that i care for....." naruto said, inable to answer sasuke.

"And thats what makes you strong" A voice said. A girl appeared from the clearing carrying a bucket of water.

"I appologize, i saw you two fighting here and i watched, and i just wanted to add what i observed..." the girl said.

"I'm Haku by the way."

Sasuek scoofed... "annoying".

"You know why naruto is stronger don't you sasuke? You want to know why... haku told him. "There are people in his life that he would do anything for. They give him a drive to succeed that won't coem from hate sasuke. No amount of revenge will bring a greater drive than the desire to protect the ones you love"

Sasuke looked down. Love?! Surely this woman is off her rocker..... i dont have anyone to love. I dont have anyone.

"humf. Like i got anyone to protect." Sasuke spoke.

"What about your teamates, what about Sakura. Your entire village needs you Sasuke. Think about that sasuke. " naruto told him. He wiped the blood from his mouth and stood tall.

Sasuke said nothing, just stood there in deep thought, contemlating what was all told to him.

"What brings ninjas here to this village?" Haku asked.

Sasuke looked up and glared... this girl, it was all wrong.... she was not what she appeared.

"We are returning from a mission and stopped to check on an old cilent at our sensei's request. If you would excuse us mrs. Haku, we have other things to attend to" Sasuke said ina dismissive tone.

Haku bowed and moved on, thinking that they were too suspicious to risk blowing her cover any further. Haku most be the missing nin hunter, Sasuke remembered a specific wound the disguised hunter had.

Several days alter on the bridge

The battle was becoming desperate for both sides. Gato and his men were just not up to fighting experienced ninjas and the men were falling like flies to kakshis assault on them. Asuma, Daius, Ino and Choji were fighting with Zabuza and not faring well. Shikamaru had managed to pull the demon brotehrs off tot he side where kurenai had placed them in a genjutsu they could not escape from. Haku had appeared and trapped naruto and hinata in her demonic mirrors and the battle inside was getting desperate. Even when kurenai ahd entered it was a defensive battle.

Outside, Darius choji, ino and asume were fighting zabuza and a myriad of water clones. Choji was sliced by zabuza, as the clones kept asuma & Darius busy. Ino winced as she saw choji get dropped, their attempt to line up her jutsu wasa failure.

"CHOJI!!!!" Ino screamed, She dove to deflect the blow that came down and was, hit hard, sent careening over the edge of the bridge, high above the water. Her reflexes reacted and she caught the edge, her blood dripped on his sword as he calmly walked over to the edge. Dangling over the river below. By a thread. Zabuza leapt over, the sword being swung ina high arc as he drew a bead on her.

Darius broke free from his opponent, suddenly cutting him down and manged to get inside the blow just in time. The swords collided as darius held his own against the massive blade zabuza held.

"oh no you don't you monster!" Darius retorted. Ino watched as he drove the blade back and jump kicked into a sommersault, blade extended. Driving Zabuza back, away from ino...

"Ino, hurry and get up!"slamming a kunai down, driving it down into the hilt through solid stone. She grasped the kunai and started to pull her self up as Darius clashed with zabuza.

" I got to admit, your good kid, but I got more than just this sword to help he chop your little girlfriend to pieces..." he could almost feel that sneer, the threat, drove down an emotion through him...

"Darius,!" hinata exclaimed, her eyes going wide" Somethings wrong kurneai"

"Focus, Hinata, we need you to tell us where haku is!" Kurneai jolted her back to her task... naruto was hit by several needles in the leg and kurneai in her arm, these mirrors were trouble, keeping hinata from focusing.... Haku decided that this was the end game for them and unleashed a hail of neddles at them all,.... all of narutos closes puffed away in smoke and when the barrage stopped, kurneai just barely managed to deflect them all, but naruto found hinata covering him....

"No, hinata!!!" naruto screamed.

"i couldnt let your dream end her naruto, I want you to believe so much in it... I will also protect you" as she slumped down into his arms, he caught her. No please wake up hianta.. please. I don;t want to loose you. You can't die. You just can't. Naruto thought. His despair turned to hatred for Haku, a deeply seeded need to kill the witch. And for the first time, an evil force began to leak out, destructive and vengeful, fueled by the hate for the person that killed hinata, he would pay for it....

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" the chakra was intense and kurneai could only marvel as the nine tails chakra leaked out from his body... naruto!

"_What is this intense chakra" _haku wondered.

The needles he had embedded in him poped out as his body healed in seconds and he looked at haku, his eyes no longer blue but red and slitted..

"I will kill you!!", naruto roared.

With an intense burst of speed naruto was on top of haku, grabbing haku and slamming a chkra charged fist into haku's stomach. Followed by a haymaker to the missing nin's mask, shattering it and sending haku flying out of the mirrors, shattering the jutsu as he did.

Else where, Darius heart felt different, like a key in the ignition of a car, it turned, sending him flying into a frenzy, his strikes began to spark with chakra as he struck zabuza and parried.

Ninja art: Water Dragon blast!

Zabuza aimed at Darius. A blast of water flew at darius who kicked up managing to clear the shot aimed at him. He landed striking the ground hard on his feet, that the stone literally broke and cracked.

Ino watched as she was dumb struck... darius's eyes glowed... golden.

"YOU!!!, you will not hurt her again, I won't allow that!" it came from darius but the voice was different. So deep. The others watched....

_**KENJUTSU: GLORIUS SOLAR SABER!**_

And a golden light gleamed along the blade, engulfing it in, turning it into a beam of light wielded. Zabuza flinched and the mist suddenly cleared with the wave of the saber, and Darius dashed at him. Zabuza brought the sword to parry the blow but it was so fast he barely connected it with it and then he saw the beam, cutting through his sword, fast. A quick reflexive dodge and Zabuza only just managed to be gutted as his sword was clove in two before his Eyes. A split second later, Darius connected with a punch across his face with such intensity, he flew back 50 yards striking the cliff wall beyond,a deafening crash resounding as zabuza hit and the water clones suddenly burst out of existence.

Naruto leaped at haku, whose face was broken, and battered. Driving him into the ground... He raised up his fist, and began to bring it to the ground when asuma and kurneai appeared to restrained him, trying to get him under control, when naruto heard

"Stop naruto, hinatas alright!" from sakura... his fist barely managing to stop, his rage causing his fist to tremble. He wanted haku dead. "P-please n-naruto, stop", Hinata said softly. His rage and the chakra slowly ebbed away and he looked back to see hinata slowly rising fro the ground, coughing a bit...

Haku was knocked unconscious by the assault but now that the mirrors were down and the mist cleared they saw, sasuke and kakashi on the other side, gato and his men dead.

Choji clasped his side, from a gut wound that was bandaged but darius lay unconcious in ino's lap....

" naruto, darius!!" hianta cried out. He helped her so they could get close.

Zabuza was almost un recognizable, the collision with the cliff face came with so much force. Kurneai wandered if darius had figured out enough chakra control to release his strength in instant bursts of strength. Zabuza's sword lay carved in two pieces, the metal still hot, glowing a dull orange. Darius's sword was smoldering and partially melted, ruined as it lay next to darius. Naruto ran over to darius who ino held in her lap, "Darius, wake up, Darius!" but he was not responding.

He looked at hinata and hinata used her byakugan to look at him., She saw for an instant a burning glow rushing through his chakra network which then ebbed into his head and seemed to dim and then vanish.

Asuma leaned over and eased ino and naruto, saying that it would be alright. Choji leaned on shikamaru and kakashi as they made their way off the bridge, back to the Bridge Builders home.

The next day:

"What happened out there kurenai... Naruto, did he... ", kakashi asked.

"No, he didn't, its still in tact, I think it leaked out when he saw hinata fall to protect him from the needle barrage. Still, we will need to inform the hokage about this development." Kurneai added, with a deep troubled sigh.

"Darius is still unconcious, it seems that hes still recovereing from the over use of his chakra." Kurneai stated.

"Where did he learn chakra control like that, Kurneai? Did you teach him that?" Asuma asked, the cigarette in his mouth until.

" I taught them all chakra control, naruto has the the worst but he is still improving but darius seemed adept at it. But I don't know the technique for what the sannin tsunade can do, asuma. Darius may have stumbled onto that one on his own... "Kurneai was saying when a crash came from above them.

"ALEYA!!" Darius screamed as he turned in his sleep.

The jouninns came in to see ino, shikamaru and naruto were standing as they watched him thrash around.

"Ino, can you calm him with your jutsu?" Asuma asked.

"I'll try Sensei", she responded

Focusing her mind, she concentrated and touched darius on his forehead, connecting her and his mind.

Before her was a vast expanse, a wasted land, scorch marks covering the landscape.

Darius was kneeling, balled up, sobbing... "why, why?" he muttered over and over.

"Darius, clam down, your dreaming", she said to calm him. His body slowly began to rise from the ground and the landscape around them suddenly changed. A vast expanse of plains and hills covered in the greenest grass, deep blue skys, a bright cool sun shone over head. She stood atop a great castle, as she saw creatures described in fairy tales, walking to and fro in the castle. Armored knights, slender men and women with pointed ears. A women standing atop the bastion over looking the expanse, her long, blonde hair flowing in the cool breeze, turned and ino saw golden eyes and the woman suddenly smiled and mouthed, "awake."

Ino was shocked suddenly awake, back in the room as Dariuis opened his eyes.

"wha, what happened"? Darius said.

"oh man, you really had us worried darius, you were knocked unconscious in the battle" Naruto said. He sighed glad his friend was all right and awake now.

"Choji, ino... ", but he saw them there, standing, ino still touching his forehead.

"Darius-san, what happened to you?" Hinata asked, holding onto kurneai arm for support.

" what do you mean, I remember the sword fight with zabuza, ino being knocked off the bridge and then I must have been knocked out or something. Looks like everyone got through in one piece thankfully" Darius rubbed the back of his head that still ached a bit.

Asuma and kurneai looked at each other and then at naruto and darius. Asuma produced his sword and the sword was brittle and sewctiosn were partially melted.

"ah, man! Its toast, what the heck happened? Its gonna take a week to rework it now.." darius said.

A few hours after words, Naruto and Hinata were sent to get some water for the trip home. The well wasn't too far away, so they calmly walked the distance, enjoying the time that they could relax from the previous days events.

"Hinata, why did you do that?" Naruto asked as they got to the well.

"d-do what, n naruto?" she asked. She wondered what troubled was troubling him.

"Hinata, you, you almost died to protect me.... you can't do that, im supposed to protect you, remember" naruto said.

"i---i d-didn't -w-want to s-see y-you hurt naruto, I dont think I c-can stand to s-see my p-precious p-people suffering in f-front of me" she stuttered.

Oh, she wish she would stop stuttering around naruto. She thought it showed just how weak she still was and she cast her eyes down.

Naruto picked up the bucket and lowered the bucket down the well.

"I think your a great friend hinata, but think how I felt when we saw you like that, I – I didnt want to loose you or him, you guys are my precious people, I was really scared hinata" naruto was feeling an ache in his heart thinking about loosing her. It hurt worse than seeing darius on the ground unconscious or when darius and iruka stopped mizuki from killing him.

"_He-he suffered like me, he really cares for me"_ hinata thought

"Just promise me you won't do anything like that again, he will get through it together ok hinata" Nartuo asked her.

Her face blushed and she smiled up at him, 'hai, Naruto-kun".. she slapped her hand over her mouth for letting it slip out.

Naruto smiled, it was the first time she said that to him. "i like that hinata, you should call me that more often". He drug the bucket up from the well and they continued back to the house for their departure.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 4: The journey back and the celebration**

Everyone was gathered outside Asuma and kakashi carried the bodies of the nins to take back to kohona for proof to be confirmed and removed from the bingo book. The bridge builder was happy, now that gato was gone, he and the rest of the people would begin to renew their lives and they had decided on a name, the Great Kohona Bridge.

The journey home was not as rushed as the journey back, Choji wound, slowed him, so everyone walked relax until sasuke didnt want to wait for the slow fatty and took off, leaving everyone else behind.

Narujto snorted, and imitated sasuke, "your all annoying". He tuck out his tongue in the general direction where sasuke left. "good riddance I should say".

Ino was going to say something about naruto mocking sasuke but for some reason, it didnt matter as much.

"so I whipped out a light sword and cut his blade in two!!??? Wow, where did that come from I wonder... what did you see in my mind ino when you did that cool Yamanka family jutsu on me?" Darius asked.

"Oh, you know, typical boy dreams"... she smiled and went back to walking... thinking that she was so familiar.

Kohona was busy and the sensei's were at the tower giving the hokage their report.

"It appeared Naruto was able to access the kyubbi's chakra after hinata looked like she had been killed in front of him. Darius on the other hand, had a strange reaction to ino's situation. Asuma was witnessed to that." Kurneai told the hokage.

"we will deal with darius later, first I want to make sure of something, did the seal break?" sarutobi asked intently.

"No, it doesn't appear that the seal was breaking, and after the emotion passed naruto returned to normal. Examination by kakashi, myself and asuma on the seal shows that it was still strong and kyubbi may have had a instinctive reaction to protect naruto, since if naruto dies, so does kyubbi."

"Very good Kurneai, please keep my informed of any further developments with the kyubbi. Now darius" sarutobi asked.

"I saw it with my own eyes and did a little research on what exactly happened. Similar to naruto, it was triggered by an emotional state when he saw ino being threatened. A kunai was dug 6 inches into solid stone and no elemental affinity was used, he did it with brute force. While possible that he used a technique similar to your former student tsunade, we don't have any evidence to back this up. Further more, he exhibited a ken jutsu technique which is not described in any scrolls I have found in the library . I had ino and myself write down the description of exactly what he did." Asuma finished, handing he hokage the desscriptions.

"the others on the teams worked excellent and the 2 teams meshed well. Kakashi was able to succeed in his mission and eliminated gato from being a further problem. Zabusa was killed, we found his body buried inside the cliff wall and were able to retrieve the body. There is the matter of Haku but we have relinquished him into the custody of the Anbu for interrogation. He could be a valuable ally with his kekki genkai." Kakashi finished.

"Excellent congratulations on this success. Now on to the question of he exams, what are your feelings on your students for the purposes of taking the exams... are they upto the task at hand?" sarutobi asked.

"I submit as a jou nin that my students are ready to take the exam" Kakashi said.

"As my colleague next to me I also agree, my three students are also ready to take the exam, hokage" Kurneai added.

"All three of mine too", Asume finished.

"Very well then, you know the schedule, please prepare your students according, the exams are within a month. You are dismissed." sarutobi said, looking down at the paper asuma gave him.

The teams were all celebrating their recent success in the mission and had meet at the korean barbeque.

"So, what do you think the exam will be like?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, theres no need to speculate, besides, no one will really talk about it... its troublesome" shikamaru said.

"Only a month to go, I haven't even reworked the sword, I think im gonna have to ask tenten for a new one. Then ill have to adjust, it wont have the same balance..." Darius complained...

"Don't sweat it Darius, im sure it will work out, you will just have to train extra hard to get used to it again." Naruto said with his mouth full of barbeque.

"Do you think w we will do well, n naruto" hinata asked.

" are you kidding, we are the best trackers and the best fighters. Plus you are super great with your taijutsu, genjutsu techniques and have that great medicine that you make from our trips." naruto praised hinata, leaving her blushing as choji quickly skewered a piece of meat and devoured it.

" hey choji, take it easy, leave some for us" ino said.

Choji grinned and said that he needed to bulk up after that last fight. They talked and laughed for awhile until the day wore out into the evening and they said their goodbyes for the night. Naruto walked back to kurneais with hinata. Ino, Darius, Shikamaru and Choji walked back the opposite way, laughing as they lef the two friends on their own.

Hinata enjoyed the time she had alone with naruto. Ever since the mission, she had noticed that naruto seemed to spending more time with her. And while she didn't understand why, but she wasn't going to question it. She even walked with her head up instead of looking at the ground.

Naruto was just happy. Hinata was great, she was strong and smart and seemed to really know how to cheer him up when he was down. He looked over at her and smiled. She smiled back but her face flushed red, why did that always happen.

"Do you really think I am strong, naruto-kun" she said, amazed at her self that she didnt stutter one bit.

"You bet hinata, I think we are good, were friends and family, there is nothing together we cant do" He raised his fist to the sky. "Watch out 4th, the greatest ninja team is gonna show you how strong we are, believe it"!

They arrived at Kurneai's and saw Asuma just leaving. Naruto and Hinata watched as asuma jumped a bit at their arrival before giving a sheepish grin and walking the other way. Kuirneai smiled as she saw naruto and hinata, walking towards the house. Hinata eyes went a bit wide when she realized what had happened and blushed. Naruto just was oblivious as he ever was to the facts before him.

He opened the door for hinata and they proceeded to go inside for the night.

Hinata and naruto slept well that night. One confident as he had always been, the other confident for the first time in her life.

Darius was walking ino back to her family home. Ino casting strange glances at darius who was trying to make idle conversation to her, but he could tell she was more interested in what happened out on the mission.

"I know what you are thinking and I cant answer that Ino. I just... dont know what happened" Drius stated.

"I don't understand how it happened as to more why?? Were you... trying to protect me Darius?" She asked.

"Look ino, im just 13 but I know who is important to me and I know what happiness is. I like you. Your almost like family to me, like naruto and hinata and yet, something about when im around you completes me. You could be a catalyst, maybe I have some hidden keki genkai, I dont know." darius said, looking at her with his green eyes.

She thought and then smirked a bit, which surprised Darius. She moved in for a kiss, her first kiss... Darius was taken in by what he saw. He put his hand over her lips stopping her. Ino looked with wide open eyes and darius's eyes were locked on hers. His face was forlorn and he was smiling.

"Are you insane,. If I kiss you here, your father would find me and Brainwash me into thinking I was a gerbil for the rest of my life."

She looked suddenly angry, when he hugged her and whispered in her ear," I do want that first kiss to be from you ino, just in a different spot is all. After the exams ok"

She was angry and then it faded and she nodded,"ok".

Darius waved good night to her before he ran off. Ino stepped inside her house for the evening, dreaming for the first time of someone other than sasuke.

He saw asuma and suddenly had a brilliant idea.....


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 5: Exam day**

Kurneai lead her team to the entrance to the exam. They were a little worn out from the training they had but the day of rest they got helped to strengthen them for what was to come.

Hinata was feeling more confident than she had ever been. They worked hard and kurneai had complemented them on their team work skills. She brought several medicines that while difficult to make, would prove to be most beneficial she thought. Naruto certainly would appreciate it and hoped that he liked her... wait, she meant them...

"Hey hinata, your getting red again, are you alright?" naruto asked in concern.

" oh yes, p p p erftly fine, naruto kun" she smiled.

"pfft, you three shouldn't even bother its not like you are going to pass" a strange ninja in an overcoat said.

" that looks warm, you aren't trying to hide secrets about your techniques are you sound punks" Naruto Smiled.

Neji stood in the waiting room, drilling a cold star at hinata. His teammates, Lee and Ten ten were standing close by.

Darius walked up and greeted ten ten warmly.

"Darius, you haven't been by the shop lately, what have you been doing.

"Well, the last mission we were on got out of hand and I had to spend time reforging my sword. I also managed to make some new arrows to use for the exam too, but you guys will find out about them soon enough" Darius said.

"This is my teamate Rock Lee and Neji Hyuuga." TenTen said.

"ah, your part of Hinata's family then, a ple" darius was cut off.

"That weakling is not part of the Hyuuga family! Lets go tenten" he coldly said.

"Hinata is not weak, shes great and shes gonna show you!" Naruto came back, but neji had already walked away.

"Rock Lee, teten has said a lot about you, I must say I never thought i'd find anyone else that worked harder than naruto here." Darius said.

"Yes my flames of youth must burn nrighter and I must train my hardest to prove myself to Gai sensei!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

Tenten sighed and grabbed Rock Lee by his shirt. "Come on, lets catch up with Neji Lee"

The first part of the test was brutal, psychological warfare by the sadist know as ibiki moreno. He tested the will of those there to stay true to being a shinobi. Darius & Hinata knew the answers easily, Hinata didn't even need to use the byakugan. Naruto, last in his class could only stare dimly at the paper, unable to answer a single one. The tenth answer was all psycological warfare at its best and remaining determined was the only true solution. Darius had come to far to give up and Hinata had come to far to let her friend and her naruto kun down.

with the first part of the exam down and only 26 teams left, anko came bursting into the room. She introduced herself and then scolded Ibiki when she saw how amny teams were left.

The remaining teams were escorted to a sight called the Frost of Death. It was explained that the remaining teams where to pass a survival test. Each team would be given a scroll, one of two required to pass the test. To pass, the team had to aquire a second scroll, then make their way to the central compound that was located within the forest. Darius reached over and placed an object into his ear.

Hinata came out indicating that she had the scroll and then the three of them were lead away by an examiner to their appropraite gate.

"Naruto kun, do you think we will pass this test... it looks scary in their..."hinata said. Strange sounds and the smell didnt sit well with her.

"This will be easy, we are the best arent we. Remember, i promised to protect you and I wont break my promise hianta. Ever. "Naruto said and resassured her with a smile.

"Well, this area isnt completely unknown to me... we will have some terrain advantages in here" Darius said.

"Hey, I got an idea that would help us a lot in taking a scroll."Naruto said. The three huddled to together and quietly talked. Hinata listened, as naruto came up with his plan and the three of them agreed. Darius tapped the object in his ear twice and smiled after a second giving naruto a thumbs up.

They dashed inside from their gate and quickly began moving through the forest as fast as they could. Hinata kept on look out while naruto sent clones to scout around and Darius was in the lead, using his keen sense to explore further, watching for signs of danger in the forest around them. Kurenai called him a ranger rather than a ninja. And it, for some reason, it was a good description.

The few Hours went by, no contact with any one but he suspected that they were being watched. At least they didn't have to worry about genjutsu. Hinata's byakugan would see through that. Naruto had a cold shudder run through him, a clone had been attacked and mauled by something unpleasant in the distance.

Darius spotted something and called a halt with a raised fist. He made a few hand signals and hinata concentrated intently for several seconds. Her vision was focused and she seemed to be watch intently forward when she gasped.

"Left!" she shouted and the team dodged as a tree came crashing down near them.

"Missed!" a grass ninja exclaimed.

"Give us your scroll and we wont be forced to take drastic measures" another ninja threatened.

The grass nins had a tall male ninja, clad in green, wearing what appeared to be a respirator, a power house a ninja, muscles rippling weilding a huge tree trunk for a weapon and their leader was a slender female ninja, clad in greens and a short sword strapped to her hip and a smug, superior face.

"You weaklings should just give up now, there is no way you can win... you are too weak" the female grass nin said. " and you don't want to die out here, we aren't without some mercy but we wont hesitate to gut and leave you hanging from a tree for the bugs to eat." She grinned a menacing smile at them.

Dariu, Hinata and Naruto laughed a bit. The grass nins were showing signs of being very annoyed and all three made hand signs, "Duiton: Earth Spikes" they all a row of earth spikes erupted at the three leaf ninjas.

Darius, naruto and hinata readied and then dodged them, bouncing through the trees swiftly. The three grass nins quickly leapt after them in pursuit.

Hianta ran, sizing up her opponent. The big grass nin collapsed huge trees with his big weapon, acring them to fall on Hinata. Her agility and grace served her well, she adeptly and easily dodged where they fell. Leaping on a fallen tree, she tracked the big grass nin, following his movements as he tried to circle her and come in behind her. The Big nin charged quickly and slammed down the trunk of a tree as a weapon. Nimbly, she arced in a graceful dip and dodged it., bringing her within in striking distance, and struck the big muscles nerve points. The big nin grimaced as she shut down both his left and right leg simultaneously and then jumping away as the big ninja fell off the tree, striking the ground with a thud. A quick strike to the back of the fallen nins head knocked him out. She turned her gaze and followed naruto, watching intently.

Naruto ran across the floor, dipping and zipping through trees and the female male ninja, pursued, using duiton: earth pits opening up, to try and capture naruto. He used the cover to loose the grass nin for a moment and then darted out as an earth spike rose where he was. This grass nin wasnt playing around. A miss step on a tree and he lost his footing falling and the nin opened up a pit as he fell into the trap, and quickly sealed it with a smile. Got him she thought.

Darius, dodged a series of shurikens throw at, him the resperator ninja, was a distance specialist, using shurikens, kunais, sebouns. Darius calmly dodged the blades as they struck the ground, trees, the area around where he was a faction of a second. This grass nin was fast. An earth clone suddenly appeared to his left, giving him two opponents to dodge and he unsheathed his sword... thinking it was time to get serious. Steel spun and whirled as he weathered the ninjas attack, the blade deflecting everything the ninja could throw at him. A quick flick and he deflected a shuriken at one target, managing to clip it and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "

"Gotcha now weakling" the other ninja exclaimed. A sign of the tiger and he saw all the weapons around him transform into into explosive tags. Darius exclaimed for a second before the explosions rocked the forest.

The grass nin landed and grinned, marveling at his work. Darius rolled over and grinned, transforming into naruto. "smile big!" naruto said. The grass nin's eyes went wide a split second before an arrow whizzed by striking the ground and exploding in front of him, slamming him into a tree. Darius slipped down from a nearby tree and quickly slipped away.

The female nin smiled as naruto was buried Head deep in her earth trap. Struggling against his trap, she mocked him.. See you are so weak, you can't even escape... just give me the scroll and you can leave, theres always next year..."

Naruto sneered, "ill never give up! Don't underestimate me, i will win..."

"please, you can't even escape the trap you are in and your time is up!" the nin said.

A quick seal caused the earth to crush him slowly, causing naruto to scream. The grass nin was enjoying herself and the screams made her sadistic . She stopped, prolonging naruto's agony. Naruto panted and then looked up at her and smiled. "

Guess i can stop this sharade now." Naruto poofed out in existence.

"A Shadow clone!" the female gras nin exclaimed. She glanced back and forth, looking for him. Where was the real one.

"Wrong direction, earth for brains!" naruto taunted. "UZAMAKI DEATH FROM ABOVE!"

The grass nin exclaimed and looked up at a dozen narutos cascading down on the grass nin kinoichi. Suddenly assaulted by narutos before the last one landed with an explosive tag and the explosion thundered through the forest.

Darius, hinata and naruto rendezvoused at the recon sight and deposited the nins in a secure location. Standing over the smug grass nins, the three smirked and naruto produced their scroll.

"Thanks for the scroll, its exactly what we needed!" and the three were gone in a flash.

A day later, they were moving deeply into the forest. Noises, explosions and screams resounded through the forest. Something Monstrous was out there. The made no other contact with any of the other teams .And it was better that way. They kept a constant watch system, naruto keeping at least two clones on watch while the other was up and resting. Darius secured the location with traps and alarms to signal a disturbance.

They were all taking a quick snack of some grubs that Darius and hinata had uncovered. Hinata shuddered with having to eat such crawling things.

Naruto glanced at Hinata who was concentrating intently on their mission... thinking that she would not hold her team back. " take it easy hinata chan, i dont want to wear you out too much and i can see you are over exerting the byakugan" naruto said concerned for her. "I think Darius has us pretty safe and my clones are on look out hinata chan." His reassurance relaxed her and she let her byakugan down and leaned against a tree from exhaustion. She shivered a bit, the forest was amazingly hot during the day and oppressive and bone chilling cold at night. Naruto moved and sat beside her. Hinata noticed and was suddenly over come with nervousness. " i wish we could start a fire, its so cold Naruto-kun..." hinata said softly. " naruto wrapped his arms around her in a hug, and hinata felt herself flush red.

"Its ok, ill keep you warm hinata, ill protect you remember." His hug made her calm her anxiety and she relaxed enough for her to fall asleep. Before long the two were asleep against the other while Darius watched.

_Sleep well my friends_ he thought.

Darius shook naruto and hinata awake a few hours later.

"Naruto, hinata we should move, there was a foul sound not too far from here and im worried about yellow leaf and brown leaf"

"why don't you see if the yellow or brown leaf needs any help Darius" naruto said.

Darius shook his head, " Somethings wrong, im only hearing static from this end naruto, im worried about them."

"do you think they are in trouble naruto?" Hinata asked asked.

Either way, we should move, Darius has a point, a moving target is harder to hit" Naruto agreed.

Hinata reluctantly let go of naruto and stretched a bit, the sleep did wonders for her and naruto. They quickly began moving again, darius still on point and naruto on rear guard.

Darius signaled for another halt, " he could hear chatter over the com" listening intently.

"Yellow leaf needs back up now!"

They burst out on to the scene, landing close to the battle

"Ino, we made it, i can see you guys, we are behind you to your left, signal when you want us"

Hinata activated her byakugan and watched while naruto got ready to join in. Darius pulled out a bow, keeping an arrow knocked.

They could see rock lee on the ground, next to the weird sound ninja in the overcoat. The ninja's taunting choji as a fatty. Choji was visibily angered by this.

"We got your back Sakura," Ino said, looking mean and in charge. "Take care of those two while we deal with these punks."

"Alright Shika-Ino-Cho Formation, Choji, do your thing!" Ino commanded. Choji literally exploded at the ninjas. He expanded using his family's secret jutsu and then used his Meat tank ability, rolling into a ball of pure muscle and fat. The sound ninja he charged scoffed and extended his hands, and the air exploded as choji cam in.

Choji then bounced in the air, visibly concerning the sound ninj and was hurtling towards him. The one in the overcoat dashed out to help but shikamaru had reached out and ensnared him in a shadow copy jutsu, stopping him in his tracks. Choji crashed down but the sound nin managed to jump away, saving himself from being crushed.

"Watch my body you Shika" Ino said and signaled the same to Naruto's team. Ino did a few hand signs and slumped down. Ino used her mind controlling technique and caught the third.

"ok, get out of here or i kill your friend" ino threatened.

But the free sound nin had an evil smile. Hinata and naruto noticed his evil look. Darius was concentrating on ino's body.

"Darius, ino is in trouble" Hinata whispered.

His eyes, only just caught the scene, The nin shot a blast at his comrade and hit her and Darius sent wide eyed. His gaze went back to where ino was and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

"looks like your friend can enter the mind of people and she over takes the. But the injuries that she takes, also hurt her body. So if we kill kin, we kill her.

"we are not after the scrolls or to finish this exam, our goal was sasuke."

"kill kin" dozu said.

A second later a volley of arrows shot out from Darius's bow, the speed was blinding, the sound nin moved and moved fast as the arrows rained out from darius. Hinata and naruto joined their teammate,

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" and 12 naruto's appears. Hinata jumped out and dropped into her Juuken stance, ready to fight, Byakugan activated.

"More Leaf ninja insects" Dozu said.

"Ino get out of her body" Darius said and then they felt it.

Sasuke got up, Markings all over his body and seething with power.

"We did it" the sound nin said.

An evil chakra flowed out of sasuke, and in a blur had the nin in a strange hold, his arms bent behind his back his foot on the sound nin's back. There was a deafening crack, as sasuke continued to pull the nins arrm back further, threatening to rip it off.

Sakura suddenly leapt forward and wrapped her arms around sasuke, crying "Stop!!!" Sakura cried. "Please thats enough sasuke, please,,, stop."

The group could see the marks slowly fading on his arms and he fell, sitting on the ground with sakura hugging him tightly. Sasuke moaned from exertion and Dosu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sasuke, we can not hope to defeat you, please take these scrolls from us and let us go for now" Dosu asked. Dosu left both an earth and heaven scroll on the ground.

They began to walk away and Darius ran over to ino, who was visibily injured but nothing too serious.

Sakura sprang up and began asking,

"Who is orochimaru and what did he do to sasuke?"

Dosu answered. "We don't know, we were only supposed to kill sasuke"

The sound nins quickly left, seeking another target and disappeared into the forest.

Naruto dispelled the clones and hinata went to check on kiba, pulling out her healing salves.

"well that didn't go exactly to plan now did it?" Naruto joked.

Sakura glared at him as she helped sasuke over to where hinata was applying her healing salves to kiba.

"here sakura-chan, use this on sasukes wound, they will help him to...." Hinata began.

Sasuke merely bated the salve away and his wounds were already gone. He gave hinata a glare that indicated he was tired of peoples pity and hinata suddenly stammered an apology and looked down with saddness. Naruto glared at sasuke.

"Hey, she was trying to help you, teme" naruto scowled.

Sasuke didn't acknowledge the comment. His mind was else where, going over the facts in his mind. An avenger yes, i need power to fight and kill him....

"Ino, are you ok?" Darius asked. Her head hurt like she was hit with a sledge hammer. She still couldn't believe how much sakura had changed, she was so dedicated to sasuke.

"I'm fine darius, nothing too badly hurt." ino said getting up.

"looks like we got all the scrolls we are gonna need, those guys are off the deep..."

"LEE!" we heard tenten cry.

Neji and Tenten leapt down from a tree and picked up lee. Hinata looked very surprised and timid around neji as he cast that same cold stare at her.

"Oi, why do you always do that to hinata!" naruto exclaimed.

"None of your business, brat. Keep out of my way and business" neji retorted.

Darius didn't appreciate the stare, " Act with some respect then, she's the heiress to the hyuuga clan and your cousin. Family shouldn't..." Darius was cut off by neji.

"Save it Tree hugger. What would an orphan like you know about family, you are lowly trash compared to the mighty hyuuga clan" Neji 's superiority complex was definitely growing. The comment definitely stung Darius who felt the injury deeply.

"Seriously, if we have a problem here you smug bastard, ill beat it right out of you. No one talks to hinata-chan that way and i wont tolerate it." Naruto stood up for her and hinata was red and wide eyed. Why did he always do that for her she thought.

"pfft, i dont have time for this, lets go tenten" and they left with lee in tow.

"ok guys we all have scrolls and we are all still in contact, we should move out and try to get to the base camp. Sasuke, kiba and sukura be careful and if you guys need a hand, remember we are all leaf ninja's here." Naruto told them.

Darius gathered the arrows he shoot, several were broken but a few were salvageable. He stood beside a tree, his thoughts churning over what neji said. He gripped his medallion, feelign the violet smooth crystal. _That guy needs to learn humility_ he told him self and slammed his fist into a nearby tree. Ino watched as he splintered the great tree before her eyes. Removing his hand from the tree, he looked dumb founded. It happened again but why...

"Darius?" ino asked.

"We should get moving Ino, Moss always grows on the southside of the trees, it should help lead you right to where you need to be." darius said turning to face her.

He smiled weakly and she noticed his hand wasn't damaged in the slightest.

Darius , hianta and naruto took a quick leap into the trees and were gone.

Hinata looked else where as they moved through the trees, rapidly approaching the area where darius's direction sense told him they needed to go. Naruto looked visibly concerned for her but they needed to concentrate for the journey. He wouldn't let neji or anyone hurt hinata as long as he lived.

It took them a few more hours but Darius and hinata managed to get them to the compound where they were to complete the exams. Several nin groups were poised around the area for an ambush and darius relayed the information back to yellow and brown leaf. Naruto setup a distraction, springing a group of Grass nins that were waitng for a target to hit. As the clones foguht, they snuck into the compound and slipped inside.

The three looked around and didn't see anything, only a strange message on the wall. They examined it and thought. Hinata smiled and suggested that they open the scrolls. Darius and naruto agreed, this was the end of the line. Hinata watched nervously as naruto and darius opened the scrolls up.

"t-those are s-summoning scrolls" hinata mentioned. She suddenly realized she was stuttering again... was she still that weak she thought.

In a cloud of smoke, Iruka appeared.

"Iruka-sensei... why were you summoned?" naruto asked.

"The exam says that we chunnin are to meet up with those that open the scrolls and great them in the second phase." Iruka looked down, pulling out a watch to check it. He smiled, 3 days, they were in time.

"Congratulations you three, you passed the second part of the exam", Iruka said.

Darius crossed his arm and smiled, thinking that there would be no other outcome in his mind. Hinata smiled, thinking that she was glad that she didn't hold her friends back. Naruto was estatic, jumping around and celebrating. He grabbed hinata in a hug and spun her around in the air. Hinata was blushing the entire time but smiling.

"Yeah we are the best!!!" naruto exclaimed.

"Iruka shrugged, "well, you guys are the second team to get here, gai's team already managed to complete this portion of the exam ahead of you guys, still a great time. I think maybe anko is getting a little soft on you guys these days" Iruka said mischievously.

They were lead to a waiting area to wait for the others to finish the exam.

They rested well that night, given beds to actually sleep on. Naruto looked concerned for darius, who sat with a whet stone, sharpening his sword slowly from stop to bottom, looking down deep in thought. and hinata, who was still thinking of what had happened to neji and why she felt like it was her fault.

Naruto softly sat next to her, wondering what there was that he could do to ease her pain, wondering what pain she carried. She shyly acknowledged his presence but she still felt so useless to them right now, the depression was eroding the confidence she gained.

"Hinata-chan, why wont you tell me whats wrong? I want to help you." Naruto told her. She could hear the concern in his voice. Naruto kun really wanted to help me she thought.

"Naruto, t there isn't anything you really can do, its something that i h have to w work through." Hinata told him, her tears slowly dripping down her face.

"So touching....." a venomous voice said.

"Darius, naruto and hinata tunred to see a snake eyed ninja in the darkness, his long tongue flicked out and his stare was just so evil and menacing, turning their blood cold.

"who are you and what is your purpose here!?" Naruto demanded.

"I wanted to see the teams that managed to graduate, who would be rivals for my sasuke of course. Such charming sacrifices you will make." the killer intent deep in his arms lashed out at them all as orochimaru attacked. They leapt away but the sankes followed them.

Naruto created clones to help him, driving the snakes back with fists from him and hinata.

Hinata dodged and dipped, using her grace to avoid being struck as the arms lashed at her.

"Kenjutsu: Flahsing Steel!" Darius exclaimed and began whirling his sword in arcs and spins that created a barrier with his blade.

"Hey guys, we just... what the hell..." Ino exclaimed when she came into the room. Ino was caught off guard and was grabbed, a snake arm wrapping around her before she had the time to react.

Hinata began to react when her buakugan saw the change coming over Darius.

"Ino, noooo!" Darius said and the voice came back "NO! You will not hurt her!"

The change surprised Orochimaru, he wasn't expecting this and then stood wide eyed with what darius did next.

Kenjutsu: Glorius Solar Saber!

The Golden light sprang along the blade and with blazing speed the light cut ino free from orochimaru's grasp.

"Interesting, this is new to me, i think i may have to add you to my collection. That ability is so promising." Orochimaru quickly spit out an ornate katanna, the Kusanagi. Orochimaru flew at Darius who turned to face his adversary. The blades struck and connected, in a blinding blazing speed, sparks and shakra flew as they fought.

They fought around the room, the area still covered in snakes. A naruto flung ino up at hinata and hinata managed to flip The naruto on the ground was quickly over come and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Dang it, I can't help darius, those snakes just don't stop" Naruto cried. Hianta and ino watched helpless from the rafters watching the kenjutsu battle below.

"my, my you are a skilled fighter and so young... i wonder why that is... must be that beautiful keki genkai you have there boy" orochimaru's long tongue slipped around and licked his dripping fangs.

Snakes shot up and wrapped around darius arms fighting against his strength, Orochimaru looked visibly tiring as he fought his strength.

"**This is interesting kit" a voice spoke.**

Naruto recognized it, the voice that haunted his dreams, the evil sealed inside him.

"**Whats wrong kit, can't you save him..."**

Orochimaru rushed forward, his head and neck became snake like and he bore his fangs out, striking darius in the shoulder.

"No!!! thats what sakura said happened to sasuke!" Ino cried.

"Darius!" Hinata cried.

Darius cried out in agony as orochimaru spoke into his ear... you too shall seek me out little one...

Suddenly the area changed to a sewer and naruto was alone. Before him was a great metal cage and a strange paper seal. Beyond it was darkness, such that light did not enter into it. Evil red eyes shown from the other side .

"**Ahhhh, so your the kit that houses me, pathetic"**

"Your the kyubbi aren't you!" naruto asked.

"**Come closer kit"**

Claws raged out and dissolved as they tried to get out...

"**hahahahaha, so scared aren't you"**

"No, i am not scared of you, you can't hurt me or anyone else while this seal remains" Naruto told him

"**Yes, the Yondaime seal, it wont hold me forever but i brought you here to tell you something"**

"and what would that be kyubbi" naruto asked

"**he will come after your mate next kit.... why don't you let me help you this once"**

"Why do you want to do this..."

"**The Sannin possesses something i dislike and he annoys me... consider this a free ace this one time kit... but i will tell you, i will get past this seal and i will have your soul and body as mine one day kit... go help your pathetic friends and mate"**

Naruto blinked and was back in the room, darius scream of agony reverberated around the room.

Naruto jumped down, the swirling red chakra, giving him immense strength and speed. Orochimaru gasped with surprise. Naruto's fist slammed into orochimarus face, distorting it and sending him flying back into the back of the room, cracking the solid stone wall behind him and the snakes all dissolved into dust.

Ino and Hinata jumped down and hinata saw for the first time, narutos red slitted kyubbi empowered eyes. She looked horrified as naruto exploded onto orochimaru, tearing at his body with claws and fists hammering him into the wall before pushing him through.

Darius, slumped to the ground and fell to his knees. Inside orochimaru smiled evilly, his power was going to be his. Then he saw the mark, or more to the point, the lack of a mark. Ino went over to him and grabbed him.

Naruto leapt back from the shredded body of orochimaru. Skin hung barely connected to the torso. His face mashed and bloody. And yet, he still sneered in victory.

"just as he said, the boy is far more resilient than i expected. And now this... the kyubbi's container, you are a marvel boy. But i accomplished what i came for so i think i will take my leave" orochimaru stated, smiling as he had the medallion darius wore in his hand. Opening his mouth wide and a fresh, new orochimaru appeared, unscathed as he shedded his old body and left it behind. And he quickly disappeared into the rafters and into the darkness.

Naruto was still feral, "Naruto...." hinata said, and again the angry red energy ebbed, his face and teeth returned to their normal state. He stood straight, "i'm sorry hinata, i couldnt... couldnt.. let him hurt you or darius..."

"Its alright naruto, he's gone we are ok, im ok, you can stop now" turning naruto to face her, she noticed he was crying.

Ino held Darius and noticed the golden eyes up close. She noticed something for the first time, they seemed to be pained, not from the wound he received but from past trauma's, emotional and spiritual pain. And they faded leaving behind his green eyes as he panted from his exertion. The wound she exclaimed and inspected the area where darius had been bite... but there was no mark, no sign of infection and the puncture wounds had already faded, a sick white ooze dripping on the floor, sizzling the concrete of the room.

Jounin ran into the room and saw the damage, darius sword still glowed like dazzling sunlight, the wall where naruto had flung orochimaru and the shedded skin that orochimaru left behind.

Several hours later, in the exam headquarters, anko, the hokage and the other jounin of the leaf were still coming to terms with it. The camera had caught it all. They saw orochimaru, the fight, darius transforming, the bite, naruto's kyubbi chakra attack. And they stood unable to grasp why orochimaru would attack them.

"and the mark isn't there?" anko asked.

"no, no mark at all" sarutobi said. "Darius possesses something that is resilient to what ever evil jutsu that orochimaru tried to use on him."

"naruto?"

"the seal is cracked so its something that happens from time to time that when his emotions are extreme, the kyubbi chakra leaks out" Kakashi said.

"and thats the way he designed it to" said alarge man, face painted with two lines running down his cheeks, long white hair down to his knees on his back, A huge scroll strapped to his back and covered by the hair. Jariaya the Toad Sannin.

"I'm sorry i didn;t get here in time, orochimaru is hard to track. Still this is interesting Sensei" Jariaya told sarutobi.

"I am going to stick around and observe the exams today but can;t stay, i have to get out, following orochimaru and more research for my next book." Jariaya smiled a perverted smile and sarutobi sighed in annoyance.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 6 Preliminaries**

Naruto stood by the door of their room, contemplating what the kyubbi said and why orochimaru would want darius's medallion. He saw that he scarred hinata and it hurt him deeply. She didn;t deserve that.

Darius was visibily shaken. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, physically but orochimarus theft of his medallion just angered him. He tried to hurt hinata, naruto and ino. He hoped to get a chance to face those sound ninja punks.

Hinata was still scarred. Not of naruto but what the kyubbi was doing to him. She didn't want naruto to hurt himself for her. She didn't feel like she deserved such a good friend.

Ino sat next to hinata. It happened again and she thought maybe she understood why. But did darius??? he had to...

Kurenai came into the room and hinata ran to her and gave her a hug. Darius and naruto turned and smiled, hiding their true emotions at the time but still happy to see their sensei.

"ok guys, whatever happened with orochimaru, we need to put behind you, the next part of the exam is up and im here to escort you tot he exam rooms. Ino you can come with me, asuma is just outside with team 9."

They all gathered up and walked out, meeting with team 9down the hall and walked to the exam room. Not a word was spoken to anyone as they walked in, noticing the other teams that had passed. In total 7 teams had passed, the sound ninja's, the team from the hidden sand, gais team, asumas team, kakashis team, a team from the grass village and them.

The hokage began by saying that typically only a hand full of genin ever pass this far to advance to the third part of the exam. With so many, sarutobi explained that their would be a preliminary round of one on one combat to determine who will advance to the final round since so many passed the 2nd part of the exam. He one again asked if someone wanted to forfeit and a guy with glasses said that he had had enough, leaving an even number on the field. When kabuto left, he explained the purpose of the exams was to get all the hidden villages to come together and it replaced all out war.

Hayate would be the proctor for the 3rd part of the exam and these preliminaries. The proctor explained the rules, any thing goes, the one to loss is the one that can not continue a fight or yields to his opponent. If neither could continue then both candidates would be declared the loser and both would be dismissed. They would be randomly putting people against one another on a one on one battle.

He showed them the board and two names appeared, Sasuke Uchiha & Akado Yori.

The two faced each other, sasuke with that arrogant smug on his face and akodo's face was obscurred with his mask and glasses.

The others walked on to over looking platforms. And watched as the two faced each other. Naruto, Darius, Hinata, Ino, Choji and Shika maru stood together as one group with their sensei's kurneai and Asuma. Sakura, tenten, lee and neji stood not far away on the same platform with their own senseis.

The fight was lopsided and sasuke was at a disadvantage from the start. Akado had some strange ability that absorbed sasuke's chakra and he couldn't use the sharingan to fight his opponent without chakra. He remembered the fight with the sound nin and began to draw on his cursed seal, despite the warnings. A quick shot from kakashi ended his chance at advancing.

Winner: Akado Yuri

Sakura was visibily shaken by this and sasuke treated her so poorly. She couldn't stop the pain she felt in her heart. She didn't want to hurt like this, the pain was so hard.

"Do not worry sakura, sasuke is strong and im sure his flames of youth will burn again. You may not want me for your boyfriend, but i will still always be your friend sakura! Its a promise of youth!" Lee stated with emotion, giving her the nice guy thumbs up sign. She looked astonished at lee, unable to know what to say to him. He had come to defend her in the forest from the sound ninja's She was about to say something when the next match was annouced on the board.

Temari vs. TenTen.

Temari, the female sand ninja, jumped down and was ready to face her opponent. Tenten looked at gai sensei and he gave her an encouraging thumbs up. "Show them the power of youth!" gai said.

Tenten almost wanted to hurl at the thought and neji scofed when the made the comment.

"Just do you best tenten" neji said emotionless.

She leapt down and faced her opponent.

Temeari smirked as tenten pulled out scrolls for the combat.

Ninjutsu: Rising Dragon

Tenten showered down hundreds of kurenai, shurikens, in a shower of steel aimed at temerai whos tood watching annoyed. A simple flick of her fan and she blew tentens weapons away.

Tenten landed and realized that her long range attacks would be useless. A quick flick of the wrist and temari slung the fan around and aimed it at tenten who barely dodged the iron fan as it landed, crackign the stone where it hit with a loud crack.

Tenten pulled out a pair of negatos and engaged temari in close range combat, showing her expertise in kenjutsu as they fought. But temari used her iron fan with the skill of a master, deflecting tentens blows and waited for her chance to frustrate her opponent for an opening. Tenten was already tiring, as each blow was getting sloppier and sloppier. She didn't have the stamina for a protracted fight and it was beginning to show.

Crack!

The iron fan connected and tenten lay on the floor with temari 's fan on top of her back.

"is that all?" temari said annoyed. "pathetic"

Winner: Temari

Temari Picked tenten up with her fan and smiled, throwing her away like a piece of trash. Lee's quick reflexes managed to catch her before she hit the wall. Lee was angry and set tenten down and began to take a fighting pose.

"Lee, don't" said Gai.

"But gai sensei..." Lee pleaded.

"No lee, save your strength for your own match, there will be time to settle things later" Gai told him.

With a quick angry glance, Lee picked tenten up and brought her up to the others.

The Board began to run and click and the next match was displayed:

Naruto Uzamaki vs. Kiba Inzunka

Kiba pumped his fist int eh air and looked over at naruto. He commented that now he had the chance to advance with such a weak opponent. Akumaru barked happily.

Naruto was happy, he was getting anxious.

"Naruto, do y your b best" Hinata said to him. She had faith that he would not loose to anyone but she was afraid of what it might cost him.

"Remember naruto, try to keep your head and not loose it to your anger." Darius said. They clasped hands in a hand shake and naruto smiled, quickly releasing the hand shake and jumping down.

Darius and kurenai could see that hinata was worried.

"He will be fine hinata, you just have to keep your faith in him and believe" kurenai reassured her student. "Besides, naruto isn't the same student he once was, its not just about your power in their but how you wield what you have."

Darius watched his friend in front of kiba, watching intently.

"Do you think naruto stands a chance against kiba, Darius?"Ino asked.

"I think naruto will surprise you Ino" Darius commented as they stood watching.

The match began and kiba tried to end it quickly, dashing with incredible ferocity at naruto. He slammed into naruto before naruto could react sending him flying backwards. A quick grab into his pouch and a smoke bomb was dropped, obscurring naruto in a cloud of smoke

Kiba's fast naruto thought.

Kage Bushin no jutsu!

A dozen narutos leapt out of the smoke and at kiba. While dodging one or 3 was easy enough, the constant onslaught had caused kiba to think this was not going to be an easy win. He just had to find which one was the right naruto.

Man Beast Transformation Jutsu!

Akamaru was suddenly transformed into a second kiba. The other narutos were stunned as they unleashed another technique.

Piercing Fang Jutsu!

They spun and spiraled into air, slamming into the clones and sending them scattering and causing them all to disappear. He side stepped a barrage of kunai and shurikens from the cloud.

Ah, he must be still in the smoke cloud.

Again akamaru,

Piercing Fang Jutsu!

The two might and scattered the smoke, dispersing several more clones and naruto was thrown against a wall.

"Heh too bad naruto i guess your not strong enough after all", Kiba said, approaching the fallen naruto.

Ino winced and Hinata looked visibily hurt. _Naruto no, get up_.... Hinata prayed.

Darius and shikamaru all still ahd a confident look.

Kiba looked over at the proctor hayate as akamaru transformed back into his normal puppy self. Naruto was certainly clever but he didn't have enough power to defeat him.

"hey aren't you going to call it proctor.... " kiba suddenly went waide eyed as the bnaruto he was standing over disappeared... another shadow clone!

"Yo Dog breath, Wrong direction!!!!!" Naruto called out.

Uzamaki death from Above!!!

Kiba glanced up just as a dozen naruto's cascaded down on him from above. As the last naruto hit, he set off an explosive tag, which thundered through out the room.

Naruto stood triumphantly over kibas unconcious body as the gave the nice guy thumbs up to his friends.

"Winner: Uzamaki Naruto!

Kiba was put on a stretcher and slowly taken out.

Hinata was smiling, he was so strong and so clever now. She couldn't stop smiling as he came back to join them. For a moment her shyness didn't stop her and she hugged him, catching him off guard and causing them to tumbling to the ground together.

"Naruto kun, im so happy you won!" she told him.

"yeah, im glad but huh hinata can you let me up please" naruto asked.

Hianta then realized that she had tackled him to the ground and the iamge it conveyed to everyone around. She quickly became red with embarrassment and got up as darius helped naruto off the ground. Neji stood watching the incident a few yards away, his face was no longer emotionless but contorted in anger.

"Do not get to complacent hinata" neji thought.

Next Match:

Sakura vs. Ino

Darius gave ino a look, who was shocked that she would be paired to fight against sakura. Sakura's face had the same look. He leaned over and whispered something to her and she looked back at him. A slow smile forming on her face. They both made their way down to the arena floor and faced off with one another.

Naruto and hinata were still smiling over narutos win and advancement into the semi finals.

"You can do it Sakura. Believe in yourself!" Lee shouted down.

"I never thought i would be fighting you ino but i won't give up sasuke to you. I wont lose!" she said tying her hitate to her forhead.

Ino smiled and left hers tied around her waist and smiled. Sakura was so strong and she did everything for sasuke.

"Im happy for you Sakura and you certainly have shown how much you have grown. But i'm done with sasuke, i can see that you are willing to go farther for him than i am willing to. But that said, i will not loose to you either Sakura" Ino responded.

The fight began and a fierce taijutsu battle erupted, with sakura using her superior cjhakra control to demonstrate her power. 10 minutes of constant fighting was sappign their stamina. But ino certainly was not to be taken lightly. While not as fast, she fought with dedication and skill.

Sakura hit her hard across the face and she careened back words no to the floor before standing up with a quick kick flip. Ino was thinking about what darius had said to her and she was suddenly strengthen enough to come upw ith a quick plan. She flicked several shurikens at sakura and forced her to dodge. She focused her chakra into her feet and dashed out, catching sakura in a stare as she swept her feet out from under her. Sakura twisted in mid air as she fell catchign her self in a hand stand as ino made a hand sign, and then shot her finger forward tagging sakura in the head.

A second later sakura collapsed as her arms and feet seemed to shut down suddenly. Ino staggered up and smiled as sakura could no longer move.

Winner:

Ino Yamanka

She knelt by her friend and made the same sign and did the same move and sakura suddenly found herself able to move.

" what happened to you Ino, you have changed to" Sakura said, admiring her friend.

"I has motivation and took some advice" ino giggled. She remembered darius comments to fight smart and remember what was waiting for her after the exams.

Ino and Sakura joined their friends up top and tho Sakura had been eliminated, she somehow felt better, different.

Next Match: Rock Lee vs. Kankuro

Lee smiled and Kankuro grinned.

Kankuro pulled the werapped on his back off and set it down as he got down to the arena floor.

Lee sprung from his place and landed in front of Kannuro.

"i look forward to a good match. Let us do our best"

"Like you can even compare to me" Kankuro boasted.

"You will see my power of youth!" Lee stated, smiling confidently. Sakura was watching and he would show her just how powerful a friend he would be.

Kankuro started flinging his wrapped weapon at his opponent and lee thrust out and blocked it, but was pushed back. Kankuro smiled and scoffed but lee retorted with a kick acrobatic kick off and landed a kick to kankuro. He smiled and saw the arrogance slide off of kankuro's face.

Leaf Hurricane!!

Lee kick kankuro up and pumpelled his adversary up into the air with a furious set of powerful kicks. As kankuro came down, lee gave him a draopping axe kick to his head, slamming kankuro down into the hard concrete arena. Lee felt the satisfying crunch.

"YES!" Sakura Cried.

"Thats it bushy brows, you show him!" Naruto cried.

Temari smirked and Gaara looked indifferent as ever.

The kankuro on the ground suddenly exploded and turned into a metal monstrosity in front of Lee. From the wrapped, the real kankuro exploded out, showing chakra strings attached to the metal monstrosity.

"Hes a puppet master!"Sakura exclaimed in shock. "Lee watch out"

The puppet leapt at lee and wrapped its metal arms around him tightly, squeezing him with strength such monsterous strength, lee felt the air pushed from his chest. He felt his cbones contricting and he began to loose vision.

" its ok lee, you can use them " gai told his student. "show himt he power of youth"

Lee smiled, "Thank you Gai sensei" Concentrating for a few moments, the puppet was suddenly tore to pieces as lee opened the first gate. As he landed he continued to concentrate and opened up the second gate.

Kankuro couldn't believe it, his puppet lie in pieces on the ground before him, destroyed by what ever strength this guy had.

He didn't want to show all his moves here, this was all not necessary anyway.

"I yield Proctor."

The proctor and everyone else minus the sand ninjas exclaimed in reaction.

"You destroyed my puppet so i have no more moves and i don't see how i can win, so i yield to you." Kankuro lied.

"As you wish", Hatyate said.

Winner: Rock Lee

"You didn't teach him that did you Gai", Kakashi asked.

Gai only looked at his rival and smiled his nice guy smile.

Lee joined the others atop the platform. Tenten, Sakura, naruto and hinata congratulated lee on an impressive match.

"That was a great match bushy brows, you were so great." Naruto said. Lee was weak and his muscles ached but he was victorious. He felt so happy.

Sakura was impressed, Lee was really strong, especially for someone who couldn't use anything except taijutsu.

"Lee-san, here is some medicine for your wounds" Hinata offered. Tenten began to take when neji put out his arm blocking hianta's suddenly.

"You should save it for yourself and your orphaned teamate hinata-san" neji told her coldly. He looked at the board and the next match was shown.

Everyone looked at the board with astonishment

Neji Hyuuga vs. Hinata Hyuuga

Hinatas eyes went wide and her blood ran cold. Neji was so strong and she was so weak. What chance did she have against him.

"Don't worry hianta, just go out there and do your best. I believe you can do it!" Naruto assured her. Naruto believed in her. She had to try, no matter what happened. For Naruto.

The two met down at the bottom, and prepared themselves for their fight.

"Give up hinata-san, you can not hope to win against me. You should give up being a ninja, you are too weak for it. Youa re too kind, and have no confidence and you are weak hinata." Neji told her. He was trying to mentally erode her self confidence and the look in her eyes was telling him that it was working.

Hinata was thinking that perhaps it was best to not fight neji, she didn't want to cause trouble...

"Hinata, don't let him talk to you like that. You are strong and don;t let anyone tell you different. I believe in you!" Naruto yelled.

Neji looked up and glared at naruto. The fool can't see what destiny holds....

"Come brother neji, we fight", Hinata said activating her byakugan in an instant.

"Very well, but do not hold it against me when you end up losing hinata-san" Neji told her takign a fighting stance.

They ran at each toehre and clashed, furious well timed blows. Their form was flowing, elegant and yet powerful as bursts of chakra shot from their fists. Hinata blocked and dived, using her agility and grace to gain an upper hand against neji's more rigid and powerful juuken form. She negan to press her advantage, slowly over whelming his defenses until she found her opening and darted in, sending a strike that caused neji to recoil back.

Neji looked stunned for a moment and then smiled. Hinata looked up, unsure of what was happening and why neji looked uninjured. She quickly moved in to hit him again and neji cauight her arm in mid strike, and struck her simultaneously. She could feel the damage that nejis strike did and felt it reverberate through her body. She coughed blood out in a bloody cough, and it trickled slowly from her mouth as she panted.

"I have closed your chakra points, leaving you unable to direct chakra at me hianta-san. Like i said, you will loose. And i, the hyuuga heir will cement by place in the family." Neji smiled.

Hinata thought it looked hopeless, neji managed to hit a non vital place to prove his point. What ever his motives, he wasn't heartless, just emotionally clouded. She looked up at darius and narutop watching them intently. And something struck her in her mind.

She backed up, timidly bracing her self against a wall. Her eyes still showed her anguish. She would not give up.

"Why do you want such a position of power brother neji?? To prove your superiority over me because you were scarred with a curse seal when i wasn't and the seal was never placed on me when my father was killed?" Naruto suddenly realized why it was suddenly so clear, her pain... her father....

"hinata chan" he whispered.

Rage began to build in neji and hianta saw it. He wasn't the only one that could play mental games.

"Graah!!! i'll kill you you you weakling... i am the hyuuga heir!" neji said as he ran at her.

He moved his fist in to strike her in the chest but she used her grace and agility to dodge i, his fist slamming into the hard concrete wall behind her and a sickling crunch was heard.

"AHHH!!!!" he screamed and jerked his hand back, the hand was broken up to the wrist and hung limply at an odd angle.

Hinata winced as she saw it. But she didn't have time to ponder his pain as he launched at her again, his juuken stance was sloppy with anger now. She would pay for it.

Again she weaved around his attack, now easier to read and slower before she came up and cauight his head with with a heal axe kick, driving him back and down into the ground. Hitting the ground she wrapped her bosy around his left leg and contorted her self stretching his leg out before she summoned all her will and naruto's faith in her and jerked hard.

"GRAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" he cried, his face contorted with anguish and pain, his byakugan dropped and hinata quickly unwrapped her body from his leg and returned to her stance. Neji continued to lie on the floor and hinata was horrified at what she did. Her resolve was visibly shaken.

Neji was unable to get up, his body would not cooperate with him and Hayate determiend ht e outcome.

Winner: Hinata hyuuga

Naruto immediately jumped down as hinata cried out for what she did. His arms wrapped around her.

No, No.... im so sorry brother... you... you didn't give me a choice....why?" she sobbed.

"you, you used my hatred against me... i was so careless... but i am still the better hianta.... you will see.." neji said, his anger festering from what happened.

Neji was taken away, the medic nins resetting his leg there before they moved him. His scream wounded hinata more...

"Why naruto, why did he make me.... why?!" hianta cried. The others were too concerned for her that they didn't see the next match, gaara vs. Dozu.

Garra vs. Dozu

The sound of combat was drowned out for concern for their friend until Darius looked over to see Gaara crush dozu in a spray of blood engulfed in a coffin of sand. It made Darius shudder as he saw the former nins mangled body and gaaras cold unemotional stare caught his.

**Winner: Gaara**

By this time Naruto had hinata clamed enough that she was no longer sobbing but she had emotional damage. He cursed that he couldn't protect her from this pain.

Darius vs. Zaku

The others looked at Darius as he sized up his opponent. A broken arm and the ability to control air and sound... well i guess ill have to be smart he thought.

Ino gave him a knowing glance" Now don't let me down either Darius" she smirked at him.

"dont worry, ill be right back, i think i have a plan as how to deal with this problem" darius said.

"Take care of hinata naruto. Sensei, i will make you proud" darius said. He bowed to his sensei and then back flipped of the back of the platform down on to the floor.

He faced his opponent Zaku, his left arm bandaged and slung in a sling.

"I'll give you a chance to walk away. Your already injured and not at your best, so i think its a waste of my talent to fight an injured foe in this setting." Darius said

"pfft, ill defeat you with just this one arm, i don't need my other to fight you"zaku boasted.

Mmm, better not take any chances then that hes faking.

Zaku charged him and darius managed to block his blow aimed at his head. Zaku smiled as darius felt the air rush into his hand vent.

ZAA KUU HA!

The air blasted darius, a large cloud of dust formed and darius was shot out of it but used the momentum to put himself at a distance. Zaku noticed that something was not right. He should be disoriented and this guy was just fine. Reachign back, he brought out his bow and shoot 2 arrows at him. Zaku dodged and the arrows struck the ground harmlessly.

Ino watched intently as he fought. He was a smart fighter, almost as smart a shikamaru she thought.

"Your technique is useless on me. I figured out how to protect myself from your disorientation. Tho i must say the blow is definitely stinging a bit," Darius boasted.

Zaku smirked as darius shot another arrow at him and zaku raised his arm to blast it away when he noticed the dust cloud slowly vanishing and a second arrow flew out form the cloud. He dodged the first and manged to shoot the second arrow with a blast of air, shattering it as he did, engulfing him in a cloud of white dust.

Zaku coughed a bit as he moved out of the cloud.

"Those arrows aren't going to work on me, i can block them all" Zaku stated.

"this is true but what im doing does not use chakra and your defense does. But lets make it interesting shall we"Darius said.

He dismissed the clone and threw down his bow and arrows. He reached back and pulled out his Straight Sword and held it in two hands.

"Think you can get me before i hack your limbs off?" Darius said.

Zaku thought this guy was overconfident, his arm was charged and ready

He extended his arms out and smirked as darius stood his ground.

YOU LOSE!

Maximum ZA HUU KA!!!!

But nothing happened for a moment and darius continued to watch before his arms exploded in a sickening burst of blood and gore.

"WHAT??!!" Zaku exclaimed as the force slammed him back into the concrete wall behind him.

"My arrows weren't ordinary arrows. I made them from a special material that exploded into fine dust. Those arrows filled your arms with a dust that hardens in moist environments like your air burst cannons. All the chakra simply had to go somewhere and it exploded outward with no way to go."Darius stated plainly.

Winner: Darius

He gathered his weapons and joined the others back up top. Ino gave him a hug as he got up top.

"impressive darius, you and shikamaru should play shoigi. I bet you would give him a better game than me." Asuma said smiling.

"Ah i have and shikamaru still trounces me every game" Darius said, casting his eye sight over to his teammates. Shikamaru just shrugged with a lazy look.

He saw Hinata still clinging to naruto tightly, both of their faces told him they didn't see his match. He hated how his friends were suffering.

_A Pax on that hyuuga_ he thought.

The last two matches Had some suprising outcomes. The grass ninja lost to shikamaru. Tho a contortionist, shikamaru read him well anr he wasn't versed with shikamarus shadow control jutsu.

Choji fought the female sound ninja in the final match but he was overwhelmed again, the sound going through even his meat shield ability. But asuma had made him a promise to treat him to barbecue to motivate choji to fight.

The hokage gathered the winners together and told them that whey would be given a months time to get ready for their next opponents. During this time, they were to do what ever they saw fit to get prepared for the final round. They were given a number to determine who they would fight in the final rounds.

Finalists:

Temari vs Shikamaru Nara

Darius vs. Akado Yuri

Rock Lee vs. Ino Yamanka

Hianta Hyuuga vs. Kin of the sound

Gaara vs. Naruto Uzamaki

Until that time they were dismissed.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**CHAPTER 7 – Training to the Finals**

Hinata still wasn't the same, even a day later. Her mind kept reliving the event, the sickening cracking sound neji's leg made when she dislocated it. The scream, the vitrol and hatred in his voice. Why did she have to do that. When exhaustion finally forced her to sleep her dreams were troubled. She dreamed naruto hated her and darius shunned her for what she did.

She awoke with a gentle prodding from naruto who was kneeling beside her.

"Hinata, shhh, easy... you were crying in your sleep" he told her.

"Naruto kun, do-do you th think im a ba bad p person?" she asked sadly.

"No hinata I don't ever believe you are bad... You fought with all you had and neji was being cruel to you..." Naruto said to comfort her.

"Kurenai wanted me to wake you so she could talk to us, come on, ill" naruto was cut off by hinata's hug. She was squeezing him tightily her head on his chest.

"i I need to tell you something naruto and I t think im ready" hianta said.

Hianta explained the reasons why she was so sad lately. The cloud ninja's had made a truce with konoha and their leader had come to the village to about 8 years ago, on the same day that darius was found. During the night, she was abducted by a ninja and the ninja killed her mother. Her father rushed to the area and managed to kill the ninja that took his daughter from him. The ninja turned out to be the cloud ninja leader.

The cloud village didn't see what had happened and demanded hintas father be executed for what he had done. If konoha didnt, it would eman the treaty would be broken and an all out war. So for the sake of the clan, her father was executed and his byakugan sealed. Hizashi, her fathers twin brother took over as the main house head but as hinata was the true heir, the mark that neji bore would not be removed unless she was proven to be a disgrace.

"So this is why neji hates you so much hinata..."Naruto asked. She was only looking down deeply saddened by everything that had transpired.

"wow, he has the best eyes in the village and hes so blind... hinata, don't blame yourself. He was trying to kill you and you beat him. You proved to everyone that you are not weak. You are great and strong. Please, hinata, please dont be sad" naruto asked her.

She only returned her head to his chest and sighed...

The three met with kurenai in narutos favorite place, iruchika's ramen....

"Ramen, oh, ramen!!!" naruto said, drooling as ayame brought out the food. She placed small bowls in front of hinata and kurenai and a large heaping bowl in front of naruto.

Ayame looked at darius, "Are you sure you dont want any darius?"

"Nah, not good for training and I honestly don't prefer it." Naruto looked at his friend dumb founded.

"WHAT!!! how can you not love ramen darius.... all those times we came and ate here...." Naruto exclaimed, shocked by what his friend said. " all those times we came here......"

Darus bit into an apple and smiled. Hinata giggled at the sight of the two friends and kurenai smiled.

"Well I have some news. I couldn't be prouder of all of you. You showed great skill and cleverness in all your battles, even when you were down. However, the next part of the exam requires you guys to train extra hard and dividing my attention between you three just wouldn't be fair. Plus, there is an extenuating circumstance with naruto and hinata." kurenai explained.

Naruto looked up from his bowl of ramen and wondered what it was.

"You each are going to be training with a different sensei except for hinata. I was requested to keep training her."

Naruto looked like he had just got his favorite ramen taken away from him, the noodles he was eating slipping back down into the bowl. Darius put the apple down to listen to it all.

"Darius, Asuma will be training you and Ino together."

Darius almost choked on his apple.

"What?!" he said shocked. "doesn't he have to train shikamaru and ino?"

Kurenai shook her head " shikamaru is being trained by his father for he mean time. Your to report to training ground 11 to begin your training in the morning."

"What about me sensei? You said there was an extenuating circumstance?" naruto asked.

" yes, please report to the hokages office tomorrow early in the morning where you will meet your new sensei for the training" kurenai told him.

"in the mean time, the ramen is on me" kurenai beamed. Her first year as a jounin and her three students had the potential to all be chunnins. And hianta, she had certainly changed so much....

The three talked and ate. Darius was glad to see hinata now leaving the prelims behind her. He instinctively went to feel his medallion but his hand caught air and then he remembered. He sighed... what did that freak want with him or sasuke anyhow.

"don't worry darius, we will get it back, next time we see that snake freak" naruto told him.

"Hai " said hinata.

"you 2 enjoy your meal, I got to go see tenten about some additional equipment. See you guys later and good luck" darius said as he waved good byw to his friends.

Hianta and naruto spent the rest of the day with each other, just hanging out like friends. Hinata took him to see her favorite shops and while boring, he didn't mind it. She definitely like silver jewelery. Naruto thought of something to get her for a good luck present for the exams. At the end of the day, they walked back to the house and said good night. She thanked him for cheering her up. A quick hug and Naruto returned to his apartment. He couldn't help but feel like something was watching him.

Sarutobi and Jariaya watched as naruto approached the hokages office formt he window. He looked so much like him jariaya thought.

Naruto walked into the Hokages office the next morning. He yawned, not wanting to be up this early in the morning.

"Hey old man, Kurenai said you wanted to see me"Naruto said.

Sarutobi and Jariya turned from their conversation. Naruto eyed Jariaya questionably.

"Naruto, This is Jariaya, one of the legendary sannins of kohona. He has a request for you" sarutobi said.

"You fought very impressively naruto. Your style is rough but the cleverness and wit in battle is what helped you win your match against t e inzunka kid. I'd like to take it upon myself to train you myself, seeing as all the other jounin are out trainin their own or on missions.

"You want to train me?" naruto asked.

"yeah, whats wrong with that. Look kid, i have my reasons and you need to be stronger if you want to fight in the next round. Gaara is no push over either. You didn't watch the match, you were too busy with that hot raven haired girl with the beautiful eyes. Is she your girlfriend? Tell me, how far have you guys gone!?"

"What!? No hey, hey, don't talk about hinata chan like that!? What are you some kind of pervy sage!? Naruto qurestioned him. Sarutobi sighed, he knew this would not end well.

"What im not a pervert..." Jariaya said.

"Then don't say " naruto started

Jariya struck a creepy perverted pose. "Im a SUPER PERVERT !"

Naruto suddenly was struck dumb "WHAT!!!"

"Besides, i always need go material for my novels and its research!"Jariaya said getting a straight face.

Taking out a note pad, he bgan to take a quick few sets of notes and then put it away.

"oh my god, you write all those nasty books.....Ero sennin" naruto said.

Jariaya's face became contorted by the insult, "Hey don't call me that!"

"Naruto, Jariaya please, this gets us no where. Naruto i think you should go with jariaya. I have a bad feeling about about this Gaara of the sand. And Jariaya was my student. He can teach you many things that will help you. More importantly naruto, i have become concerned with the incident in the land of waves and in the exam tower and kyubbi's appearance. Jariaya can teach you how to control the kyubbi better. I think it would be best for everyone naruto, especially your friends and you" Sarutobi told him.

Naruto thought for amoment and finally shrugged. "Ok old man, i'll go." Naruto agreed.

"Great, lets go get your stuff and we can leave immediately kid" Jariaya said.

They walked out of the hokages office and out into the streets. Narutos apartment wasn't too far away from the hokages office and naruto was packed in about 10 minutes. With naruto packed, they headed out tot he gates where naruto ran into hinata and kurenai.

"Hianta-chan, Kuernai sensei!" naruto yelled

"Naruto kun!" Hinata yelled and they ran to each other and hugged.

Kurenai walked up behind them as they hugged "Jariaya -sama! Its been too long. So this is why the hokage called naruto to the tower is it?"

"Kurenai, man, you have grown into one hell of a woman. Yes, im going to take naruto under my wing for a while and teach the kid some new techniques."Jariaya said, watching as the two young kids hugged and laughed. A hyuuga, wow, thats a nice catch kid. Jariaya smiled, he couldn't help it. Minato and Kushina would be so proud of him

"Take good care of him jariaya. And don't teach him anything perverted... I will make it a point to make to make unpleasant should i find that you do"Kurenai said, the seriousness of her voice striking some fear in the legendary sannin.

"No, i wont do that i promise, take it easy kurenai!"

"How long will you be gone naruto kun"

"A few weeks hinata was it. Don't worry ill take good care of him while we are gone. Promise"

"Are you going to be ok hinata chan?" naruto said to his friend. He got a strange tingling in his heart when he thought about hinata after her fight.

"Hai, i, i want to do my best for you naruto kun" hinata said.

"Oh and i guess im chopped liver i suppose" Darius said, as he asuma and ino came out with packs on their back.

"No dairus-san, i want to do well for you as well" hinata said i tad embarrassed. Ino jabbed darius in the ribs as she moved past him and cast him a look of shut up. Asuma smirked. Ino gave hinata a hug of friendship and started to gossip with her and laughed as they talked.

"So, you must be Darius Hokage-sama told me about." Jariaya eyed the boy up and down. Sarutobi was right... there was something about the boy, almost regal.

Darius bowed low, " it is an honor to met you jariaya sama. The second legendary sannin i have met in my life."

"yes i heard about the run in with orochimaru. " Jariaya said " thats why im going to train your friend here, so he will be better prepared next time. Naruto we need to go, say good bye and lets hit the road"

Naruto gave Darius a hand shake. Kurenai bowed to her student who bowed back. Hianta was misty eyed and near tears but naruto gave her a big grin, queeling her sadness. They watched as jariaya and naruto disappeared behind the tree line.

Asuma, Darius and Ino said their goodbye to hianta and kurenai, before leaving for their training exercise. Hinata and kurenai finally left, kurenai urging hinata that they should get started with their training and preparation.

"Darius what did you pack in these packs, it feels like im hauling 100 lbs of lead." Ino said.

Asuma smiled at Darius. "Iron actually."

"What!!! why the hell am i carrying this" Ino exclaimed at Asuma.

"We are going to be practicing kenjutsu ino and to do so, you have to make your own weapon. I discovered a fighting style that i think will surprise your opponent. Plus, Darius actually knows more about weapon forging than some of the finest smiths i know of. " asuma said.

"Trust me ino" darius said.

It was the following day that jariaya and naruto got to their destination. A set of hot springs not far from a dormant volcano. He explained the basic of what the training would entail. Summoning jutsu and the two chakras that naruto carried inside him. Teaching him to draw on his kyubbi chakra would allow him to enhance his summons he explained and give naruto a near limitless reserve of chakra to draw on.

Pulling out the scroll of summoning, jariaya explained that the scroll would allow him to summon giant toads to help him in combat. Expaling to naruto the procedure, naruto looked over the scroll and signed his name in blood to it. He then took naruto out and had him expend all his chakra until there was nothing left.

"Ok kid, give it a try and see what happens"Jariaya told him.

Naruto made the hand kids, cut his finger and slammed it palm down into the ground

Summoning Jutsu!

A small toad appeared and blinked as it poofed into existance. Gamakichi the toad introduced itself with naruto and questioned how naruto summoned him.

"ah so jariaya is teaching you how to summon the toads. Ill have to tell my father about this."

" so is gamakichi the only one i can summon ero sennin" naruto asked.

"Naruto, how many times do i have to tell you dont call em that. No, you can summon different types of toads but sometimes, they may not be available to help you." Jariaya explained," with the amoutn fo chakra you have, you can call a bigger toad, but gamakichi was avaialble since they arent familiar with you. It takes practice to summon the different types of toads and the more you pratice, the more familiar they become with you. Go ahead and you and gamakichi get to know each other and become friends.

Naruto spent the entire day talking and asking questions. While it grossed naruto out, he accepted that well, gamakichi is a toad and ate different things than naruto.

Naruto spent a week practicing this technique of summoning, building his chakra control to where he could summon more of the kyubbi's chakra.

"**Well, well, well, aren't we special. What are you Doing out there!"**

Naruto was suddenly inside the sewer again, the dark red eyes of the kyubbi looking right at him.

"Ok, look furball, im housing you and while you are living in me, im gonna need some rent. I need to be able to call on your chakra if i happen to need it and it benefits both of us.

"**Kit, you are bold aren't you. I respect that in you monkeys. It impresses me that you have the guts to stand there without fear before my might. I will agree to this but ill give you a heads up and fair warning. Its still my chakra you are borrowing. Don't draw out too much too quickly or else you might break that precious body of ours. Now let me alone kit, i need to sleep."**

Naruto explained the kyuubis answer to him and jariaya said that the kyubbi was right but thats why jariaya was moving on to teach him the next step. He knew kurenai had taught naruto some limited chakra control. Now he was going to refine it more.

He taught naruto meditation techniques. Naruto proved to be quick tempered but managed to try harder to control his anger and emotional states, which further enhanced his control. Once his emotions were balanced, he saw that naruto had the ability to use jutsus that required more refined chakra control.

"Ok kid, im gonna check you elemental affinity and teach you an elemental jutsu. Your elemental affinity determines the element that you are most suited to use. He handed him a paper. Ok, channel your chakra into this paper, its reaction will tell us what your affinity is."jariaya said.

Naruto took the paper from him and did as he said.. Channeling his chakra into the paper and it split in two.

"What does that mean, Ero sennin?" naruto asked.

"It means you are a wind affinity. Interesting. Wind is unstoppable and suited for the type of chakra you have. I'll start you off with the basics of the techniques but we need to get going kid. The finals are in a week and thats about how long it will take us to get back.

Jariaya and naruto started on their journey back to Kohona. Naruto wondered if a week was good enough to get what he needed done to complete his elemental affinity. Jiraya said no but it was the basics of all elemental jutsu's and understanding it gave him knowledge. And knowledge is a powerful weapon in and of it self.

Naruto was mad that it wouldn't compelte a new jutsu so hew decided to accelerate his training by using something he discovered training under kurenai. He made dozens of clones at night to help him accelerate his training.

By the third day, he showed jiraya that he managed to some what manipulate the elemental chakra.

Jariaya was impressed. The shadow clone technique was effective and certainly helped him grow quicker but he wondered if perhaps it was dangerous. He stopped to teach naruto the simplier wind elements he knew. They had stopped for the night in a bunking house. Naruto lay in his bumk, watching the stars and the moon. He had felt stronger than he had ever felt and yet, something else was missing... Hinata-chan is it you?

Darius and Ino were sparing on the rim of a dormant volcano. Darius held a new weapon, polished Metallic blue sword with an ornate hilt. Golden light seeped along the edges as they clashed, whipping it around with fluidity and form, leaving a trail of light behind him as he whipped it around.

Ino was grace and explosive power. Her weapon was a long saber, forged with a silvery edge and shimmered as she used it, striking like a snake, red chakra slowly ebbed and flowed ong the sharp edges.

"Ok, guys thats enough, im getting exhausted just watching you two spar." Asuma said, jumping down off his rcok and picking up his pack. "I want to get back early enough so that you two can rest for a day and be at your best before the matches"

Darius bowed low and ino quickly took the Saber and placed it to his head.

"you wouldn't!?" Darius muttered.

"Oh wouldn't i?" Ino smiled back at him, forming a hand sign with her free hand.

"Break it up, lets get going ino..." Asuma said, laughing as darius fell down unconcious.

Ino swiftly sheathed her weapon and proceeded down the mountain with asuma.

It was evening when they made camp just about ½ a days journey out from kohona. Asuma was already asleep for the night and darius had watch for awhile. The sky was clear that night. He rested gazing upwards at the infinite that was before him. Stars beyond count, beauty.

A pair of arms wrapped around him as he watched.

"You really should be asleep you know, its not your turn for guard duty for at least several more hours " he said innocently mocking her.

A quick left handed tickle of his ribs quickly quelled that tho.

"Hey, easy there" darius said with a quieted giggle and reflex jerk.

Ino quietly laughed. "Why are you always looking up at the stars Darius? Not enough down here for you?" she asked. She felt so different than from her academy days that seemed so far gone now. Sasuke wasn't all that she desired any more and darius was, well, different.

"Look at it ino... it makes you feel so small and yet, tells you that you are a part of something more, much more" He explained. "Its strange, i can feel them almost talking to me sometimes, when they twinkle and shine a certain way... calling to me." Ino liked his way with words, he seemed to have a heart of some great poet from a past life. And as she looked up, she saw what darius saw, the great expanse of the beyond. For now they enjoyed the moment, gazing at stars before they called it a night to sleep.

Kurenai took hinata with her to teach her about elemental affinity right away. Unlike naruto she had perfect control over her chakra from the start of their training. Using a chakra card a strange thing accured that kurenai was not ready for her both split and became wet. "well hinata, looks like you have two elemental affinities. I have my work cut out for me it seems. She supplemented her juuken with various water and wind jutsu's, teaching her to weave her attacks with in with her style to make it a fluid motion and non stop assault. She was more shocked when she performed a kage bushin to assist her in the training, all be it a single clone.

Hinata practiced her Genjutsu training when she had somewhat attained a mastery of her elemental affinity. Placing illusions on people should be more beneficial in the long run, that tho they used a good amount of chakra to perform, the the target was caught, they would have to expend at least the same amount and most would waste theirs before realizing it was all illusions.

Having seen what Lee was capable of, Kurenai taught her chakra relaese techniques last. She explained the basic and the uses of it, which hianta already knew. however, she further explained that the more precise and quick the control, the more powerful the effect can be.

It was night and she sat huddled on the roof of her and kurenai's home, looking up at the moon. Her confidence was back but she told her confidence was better but she felt like she lacked something. Is it naruto-kun she thought as she watched the moon and stars.

The day before the events were to transpire they all meet at the gate, almost at the exact same time. Hinata and Naruto were excited to see each other. Hinata always felt much better around him. Kurenai and Asuma stopped together and watched and then snuck in a knowing glance to one another. Darius and ino joined naruto and hianta after a few moments, both eager to show each toehr what they had learned. Jariya almost felt like an outsider here.

"Hey naruto, i have to go ok Jariaya told him.

"Ah ero sensei, why cant you stay and watch. Im gonna beat the pants off of that sand ninja guy."Naruto fussed.

Jariaya smiled, the kid had guts and a strong sense of courage. He couldnt be prouder of him. "I got some busines to attend to but ill be back in a few days ok. You take care and rememebr that control over emotions is what we strive to do, not let our emotions control us."

Jariaya turned nad lef the group , once again disappearing into the tree line outside the gates.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 8 – Finals Arrive**

Naruto Uzamaki vs. Akaido Yuri

Shikamaru vs. Temerai

Rock Lee vs. Ino Yamancha

Hinata Hyuuga vs. Kin of the Souind

Garra of the Sand vs. Darius of the Leaf

The sign was posted on the Stadium entrance, illuminated by the street lights nearby. The five of them glanced at their opponents. Akaido yuri, could drain chakra from a touch. Temerai of the sand, strong and fearless with the power of her wind jutsu was formidable. Rock Lee, the taijustsu master, his strength was fearless determination and a will to succeed. Kin of the Sound, The air and her gloves gave her incredible power. Gaara of the sand, cold blooded and merciless with a secret yet to be revealed.

What would tomorrow bring they all thought as they turned to walk away. Shikamaru was the first to walk away. His father had trained him with more of the family techniques but it was all such a drag and troublesome. So much work and just the thought made him tired.

Darius and Ino left not long after, saying good bye to their friends. Their Kenjutsu training and darius honing of this strange keki genkai made them strong. But was it enough against the opponents they faced.

Silently Naruto and hinata walked both in deep thought of their matches but also of darius's. They were worried, would he be able to defeat gaara, was he strong enough. They couldn't bare the thought of him dieing.

"Naruto, Hinata" a voice called to them from the park near by. The voice was familiar. It was Neji's Voice.

Hinata saw him walking to them, his hand still in a cast, his leg still stiff and he walked with an obvious limp. She cast her eyes down in shame.

"What do you want neji" naruto said with some disdain in his voice.

"I'm not here to fight with you naruto I only want to talk with hinata." neji said. His tone seemed to lack that superiority that neji had shown them before. "in private please."

"Like hell thats gonna " naruto began to say angryly.

"Naruto kun, it will be alright. I want to talk to Neji." hinata asked her friend.

"Ok hinata-chan, ill be over there waiting for you if you need me." Naruto cast a cold look over at neji before he walked away.

"Hinata,ii, I , I don't know how to even start this..."Neji said, she could tell he was uncomfortable with whatever he was trying to tell her.

"Brother, i'll say this, im sorry. I hurt you greatly and and I know how much you want to be the hyuuga heir.

"thats just it hianta, I don't want to be that anymore. How could a hyuuga, the greatest clan in kohona, be led by an arrogant superior fool like me. Its me that should be sorry hinata, not you" neji said" I have hated you for so long because I knew the truth hinata, the truth you didn't even see yourself. Hizashi..." neji got choked up uncharacteritically of him.

"It was my father that died that night hianta not yours, Hizashi is really Hiashi..."Neji revealed to her. Hiantas eyes went wide and she a silent squeak escaped her lips. Hiozashi was hiashi.......

Neji barely caught her as she began to slowly back up... and the world faded into darkness.

"Hianta!"Naruto cried, running over to where neji held hianta and pushed him away from her. "What the hell do you say, what did you do?!!!" Naruto's voice was emotional and angry. He wanted to hit, no hurt neji for what he did to her.

"We control our emotions, Naruto, we don't let our emotions control us" jariaya's advice came to him as he was losing control of his anger.

Neji was shocked, he never expected hinata to faint like she did. And narutos reaction made his fears come to light,t hat his arrogance would be his undoing, the undoing of his clan.

"Just what did you say to her Neji?" naruto said, now much calmer.

"I, I told her the truth Naruto... her … her father is alive, haizshi isn't my father, he is hiashi and he is hinata's father." Neji said as he knelt down next to his cousin & naruto.

_**Flashback**_

Neji in the hospital a week after the exams, Hizashi enters and sit down next to Neji.

"Why did you come... father? Is the Hyuuga heir now decided now that I am beaten" Neji said coldld. Hizashi felt the pain sting his heart as neji said these things.

"Why, why do you do that Neji? Why won't you look at people for more than just the talent that they are? The love and care that they show?" Hizashi asked.

"Because knowing the truth all these years, it has shown me that only freedom and strength are all thats worth, UNCLE!" Neji said coldly to him

Hizashi, now revealed to be Hiashi, sighed and sat in silence.

"I see the charade failed, hizashi , im sorry I have done all that I could." Hiashi comemnted.

Hiashi explained the entire incident to his nephew, the problem with the cloud country, the kidnapping of huianta and the subsequent killing of her killer. The horrid decision made by the elders of the council, that hizashi should be given to the cloud and not hiashi. Hiashi explained his disapproval of the decision, that hizashi had neji, that this was too much of a burden to carry for just him and Hizashi's explaination of why he wanted to go through with it.

After the incident, he knew that hianta would be alone but the council insisted that this course of action be taken, that Hiashi would become Hizashi. That he would not be marked, giving the impression that the mark could be removed. And Hinata would remain the inheritor and the true blood heir of the house of hyuuga.

"but the real reason I became your father neji, was to pay the debt that my brother had paid for. I can never repay that debt neji.... I am truly sorry. Please believe me I beg you." Neji's eyes could not believe what he saw, that Hiashi was bowed on his hands and knees bnefore him and that everything he told neji was the truth.

_**End flashback**_

"I thought long about everything I said to her naruto, everything I had done to be cruel to her. That I still bore the mark even tho I was a part of the now main branch of the family but none of this was her fault. I had to tell her... I was sorry" Neji explained.

Hinata opened to her eyes and saw her cousin and his eyes, for the first time she could remember were filled with tears of sorrow.

"I'm so sorry hianta... you were never weak... you were hinata... my cousin and the leader of the clan... please forgive me, I beg you" neji asked.

"I never stopped caring neji for my family, I had thought that they had given up on me long ago" hinata said standing up and holding her cousins face gently. She hugged him for the first time in a long time and she felt better than she had in all her life.

"Your father will want to speak to you after the exams hinata-san. For now, he wishes to you to do your best tomorrow and he knows that you will bring honor to the clan." Neji said as he turned to move down the street.

Hianta hugged naruto and he saw tears in her eyes. But these weren't tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy.

"My father has returned naruto". And naruto was happy for her.

The next day dawned over kohona and the atmosphere was charged with excitement. Many had come to kohona to witness the finals of the exam. Customers, representatives of the 5 great nations, even the Kazekage himself showed up for this meeting. Kohona was on high alert with allt eh dignitaries. Anbu was running 24 hours with constant bodyguards for the nobles and leaders. Patrols ran the forests and in the city to show the force of kohona.

Naruto, Darius , hianta nd Ino walked into the stadium together. Darius and ino noticed the look on hinatas face that they had never seen before... pure joy.....

Ino and Darius shot them a glance... they... they didn't did they darius? Ino quietly whispered to Darius. Darius was trying to figure it out, what change had brought them to this point, but it couldn't be that... that was naruto... he was oblivious... I ...mean.....could it?" Darius thought and shrugged at ino in confusion.

"hey , where is hayate, I thought he was supposed to be the proctor of this match" Naruto asked the man standing before them.

"Hayate will not be able to come so I have been assigned to become proctor naruto" the man said.

Rock Lee suddenly bounded into the stadium with all the power of youth. "I shall be victorious for the power of my youth shall be burning brightly!" Rock Lee said.

" so does that mean you are gonna hit a girl Rock Lee to prove how mighty you are" Shikamaru stated as he looked up lazily from the shady spot he found. This dumb founded Lee who was suddenly unable to come up with the words and had the strangest look of frustration on his face.

Ino smirked, "He better if he wants to stand a chance" and looked at Lee who smiled back with determination.

The Sand nins came into the arena next, Temari with her look fo superiority and Gaara, giving Darius a cold, dead eye stare. That guy is gonna die mother and his blood will taste so good for you.

Darius stood, Gaara was a good 8" shorter than he was but still Darius knew that height was not an advantage. So he kept his eyes locked on gaaras as garara took his position nearest temerai.

The group waited in the stadium for everyone to take their places. Sasuke was brought in being helped by Sakura. Sitting down by their isntructor to watch the finals. Sasuke hung his head low, still in deep thought. Up high, the hokadge and Kazekage were seated to watch the finals from the best vantage point in the entire stadium. They both agreed that these matches would be very interesting indeed.

With everyone seated, the proctor turned and bid everyone to leave except for Naruto and Akidio. The two ninjas faced each other and naruto could swear that the ninja held a sadistic smirk underneath that stupid mask of his.

Their fight began, naruto taking the offensive immediately.

Kage Bushin No Jutsu!

A dozen clones appeared and attacked but the grass nin did something un expected, he let them hit him. Each punch and kick, deflecting only the stabs with his kunai. Over and over again.

"I know about your shadow clones and I know the weakness", he boasted.

As each one hit he noticed they they were moving slower and slower. And they looked tired and sleepy, and suddenly one dropped and poofed away and naruto felt it. A weariness suddenly hit him. And he felt weakened. The weakness. He felt everything the clones felt, including their chakra exhaustion. He raised his hands up to dispel the clones but several more popped out of existence and he fell to his knees. And managed to dispel all but one.

Damn, I didn't think I would go down, much less this fast. The chakra exhaustion was crippling. He fought to stay awake when Akido rushed in and wrapped around him, putting him in a vice like sleeper hold.

"Oh, don't worry naruto, im going to make sure that you can't get back up. You see I can absorb and dissipate chakra. You may have a lot but your jutsu uses a lot too. And I knew you would want to end this flashy. Too bad, orochimaru thought highly of you... oh yes thats right struggle naruto... try to use all that precious chakra.. so little is left that I will win but unfortunately for you, im going to make sure that you don't ever get back up again" Aikido continued to taunt him.

Damn hes too strong and im almost out of... and it hit naruto, the chakra he had wasn't the only chakra he possessed. Ok kyubbi, lets see how he likes a taste of yours., naruto thought.

Chakra poured out of naruto and into aikido. He had never felt such exhiliration.... and then the burning started, and then the screaming as his flesh began to catch fire.

He let go of naruto and began to writhe on the ground, the pain was coursing through his veins, searing his eyes and causing him to smolder.

Naruto went through a few hand signs and pulled his plam back in a slow even manner, the chakra building in his palm as he pulled it back. The sound of a wind began to reverberate through the stadium and naruto thrust it forward with power.

Fuuton: Gale Thrust!!

Aikido was suddenly flung back, the body making a sickening crack as it slammed into the hard unforgiving thick concrete walls of the stadium. And then collapsed in a heap on the ground. The proctor called for some med nins to come and inspect the unmoving aikido. The med nins told the proctor that he was unconscious.

Winner:

Naruto Uzamaki

Sasuke couldn't believe what the dobe just did. "What made him so damn strong" sasuke muttered to himself.

Sakura said one word to him.

"Faith"

"Alright Naruto!" Darius and Ino Cried. Hinata cried loudly "Nartuo kun!!"Asuma and Kurenai clapped loudly and the crowd responded to naruto.

"I control my emotions, they don't control me" he muttered to himself and took his victory stance. I hope you were watching that fourth, I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

Gaara and Temeri watched as the goofy youngster jumped and clapped. Much stronger than he appears. It could be trouble Temeri thought and posed a problem for the plan.

NEXT MATCH:

Shikamaru Nara vs. Temreai of the Sand the proctor announced. Temerai looked like she needed to blow of steamand puileld her iron fan out and glided down intot eh ring in fashion, obviously ready for the next match. Shikamaru however looked bored and thought that it would be too much work. Maybe he should forfeit and just get it over with.

"Oh no you don't Shikamaru" Ino said in a controlling manner. She gave him a good hard nudge in the back and shikamaru tumbled off the ledge and down into the arena with a large crash. Rolling over to right himself with his back against the wall, he looked over at temerai, waiting and Ino who just pushed him into the arena.

"Women are so troublesome," he muttered.

"Come on kid, everyone is waiting"hte proctor prodded. Shikamaru was about to say he forfeited the match but Temerai was done waiting. With a quick flick, she unleashed a gale force wind at shikamaru thorwing him around and to the opposite wall. With a quick move, he righted himself as he landed. She had that damn arrogant smirk on her face. He pused, making a strange hand sign and crouched.

It took him about a minute to get the strategy down that he wanted. For several minutes after that, they showed to the crowd a display of organization and tact. Termerai had a great tactical mind but shikamaru was a tactical god.

Temerai stood shaking releazing that ll his moves had brought her to a specific point where he had captured her with his shadows. She fought against the jutsu and shikamaru was surprised that she resisted so well. Slowly she raised her arm in the air, fighting her muscles every move. She had lost.

"I forfeit" shikamaru said plainly.

Everyone in the stadium went silent.

"To put it plain and simple, this is pointless and really just wasteful use fo energy. I had plotted this match to last for 5 minutes but as it stands, im out of chakra anyway. So I forfeit"shikamaru told her.

Winner: Temerai of the Sand.

"Dang you shikamaru, your just lazy" ino shouted at him.

"Pfft, whatever, the match is over and I lost. Big deal" He stated before resting in a shadier patch in the stadium.

Rock Lee vs. Ino Yamanaka

"Now my flames of youth shall burn brightly for all to see. " Lee exclaimed. He took a radied stance as Ino looked at lee with Concern. Lee was fast and with any of the gates open, she would have a hard time keeping up with him.

She took her fighting stance her Sabre drawn and Her face steeled for the assault lee would bring.

Lee shot at her with blinding speed. And to everyones suprise, Ino responded just as fast, keeping her defenses up, she parried and dodged his blows, concentrating on keepign herself in the fight for as long as it took.

The Sabre shimmered as the crowd watched. The speed and assault began making familiar patterns.. monkey, dragon, tiger, rat... what came next surprised Lee....

"Fuuton: Tornado assault!"

A sudden burst of wind erupted next to them and a tornado formed. And ino began the repoiste. She darted and thrust at lee, who while normally wouldn't have a problem dodging these attacks, was slowed by the tornado force winds ino was using was slowing Lee down and speeding her attacks at the same time.

Le quickly jumped back and dumped all his weights. They thundered as they hit the ground and lee was launching back into an assault noticing that, ino was having problems keeping up now. He waited for a mistake. And while she made a scant few, he saw a chance when she swung wide.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

He caught ino in a series of powerful kicks Launching her higher and higher into the air. The tornado dissipated and she reeled from the pain.

Hurricane Leaf Axe kick. Ino smiled as the kick connected and she thrust her rapier towards his forehead tapping his head while making a sign. There was a crash and when the dust cleared, Lee walked out hangs in the air. "I have done it guy sensei." Lee stated cheerfully. The proctor didn't call the match. "The dust cloud cleared and ino was no where.

"Invisibility jutsu... ingenious Ino. But i will find you."

View gate: OPEN

But he saw nothing.

A series of quick slashes and a metal guard to the face showed lee that he had a problem. Ino was still invisible. The assaults came in all directions. As soon as they hit he would respond, kicking and sweeping. But ino has invisibile completely. No sound, no smell, no sight. Lee thought it was genjutsu and attempted to work around it.

He ran and created a dust cloud with the speed he ran. Forming a layer of dust in the air and saw a form in the midst on the cloud, or where the cloud didnt form.

Primary Lotus and lee grabbed her. Throwing her in the air and driving her down into the ground.

Lee jumped away, panting and hurting from the over use of his gates. The pain shot up threw him.

As the cloud cleared, he saw that no one was in the cloud.

"I think you missed Lee" came ino's voice from a tree, dangling her feet from a branch.

"But how.." Lee said, collapsing from exhaustion.

Ino looked at the proctor

Winner: Ino Yamanaka

Ino went over and picked the exhausted Lee up, dusting him off. "I used a modified version of my family's psychic jutsu on you. Instead of taking you over, i shut down your perception of my presence and manipulated it. The rapier Asuma, Darius and i forged has my blood infused in it, allowing it to be a conduit. So instead of me beating you, I let you beat yourself Lee. Tho in the beginning of the match, i underestimated your speed."

"I am amazed Ino, that is most ingenuis, your flames of youth are certainly strong. I must do better next time"

They rejoined the others atop the ledge looking over the arena floor. Ino came over and set Lee down, who couldnt quite sit up. Naruto looked at his friend to his right and he could see Hinata was concentrating.

"Hianta, your up. Go and kick that sound ninja's butt. I believe in you" Naruto said to her.

"h-hai naruto-kun"Hianta said. She rose as the next match would be hers to fight. She finally would have the chance to prove herself and show everyone her strength. She looked over at naruto and then over at the crowd. Her face became resolved and and hard.

She back flipped and dropped into the stadium next to the proctor and stood ready for her fight. She glanced around and she saw no opponent.

"Kin of the Sand, your match is ready. Coem and show us what a ninja you are" The proctor announced.

The wind lightly blew through the stadium and as was dictated in the rules Hinata and the proctor looked up at the Hokage.

"Kin of the Sound is disqualified from participation and forfeits her match.

Winner:

Hinata Hyuuga

Hinata walked up and returned to her seat and sat. Naruto and Darius could tell she was upset.

"Guess the sound ninja didn't want to mess with Hinata" Naruto said. Hinata was looking upset and she fummed on the inside. Denied her chance to show her friends how far she had come.

"Hey hinata, its ok. You still got more matches later remember."Naruto assured her. She looked at him and knew he was right. And her mood softened.

Next Match:

Darius of the Leaf vs. Gaara of the Sand

Hinata then remembered Darius's fight and she suddenly looked concerned for him and rose. Ino leaned in and hug him, whispering soemthing to his ear.

"Trust me, i haven't forgotten Ino ", Darius told her.

"Show him what Real Leaf ninjas are all about Darius." Naruto told him and shook his hand. Hinata looked at him and Darius bowed low to her. Hinata bowed to him as well.

Gaara past a silent glance at Darius and for a moment, Hinata thought she saw a manic smile cross Gaara's Face. Looking closer, she knew something was not right.

"Hinata, i know what your are feeling. Don't worry, im gonna be just fine." Darius Walked down to the match and faced off with his opponent. The 2 stood watching one another. Silence was deafening between them.

Gaara suddenly clasped his head in pain and the manical smile hianta saw earlier was plastered to his face. The killer intent was oozing off of him in waves but Gaara saw no emotion from Darius. Darius knew he should be afraid and apprehensive, but he had no fear pass inside him.

"No fear little leaf ninja, my you face death well. Mother says she wants that precious blood. "Gaara stated.

"Guess ill get this match started then" Darius sprung to the right. He drew his bow with blinding speed and shot two arrows in rapid succession. A sand clone rose and batted the arrows away with ease. Sand rushed out of the gourd and surged at Darius. Neutralize the sand darius thought. As it shot around him He kicked off the ground and shot an arrow below him, a strange symbol attached to the tag.

"Explosive tags wont help you" Garra said and the arrow exploded.

"Who said it was just an explosive tag" Darius smiled as he landed and the sand fell to the solidified.

"I added a chemical bonding agent to neutralize that sand of yours. The explosive tags are for dispersing and they make a nifty little show too" Darius told him confidently

Darius, very inventive of you considering what he is fighting sarutobi thought, the kazekage watched intently at the match.

Naruto, Ino and Hinata watched as Darius ran around dodging sand tendrils aimed at him. As he did, he flicked an arrow ofor two with explosive tags at a mass of sand, solidifying it when it hit and continuing to dodge every attack. Gaara was becoming visibly unhinged. Temerai and her brother whispered to one another silently. What was Gaara thinking... he wasn't following the plan.

Eventually darius had run out of arrows but gaaras sand never ran out or it seemed. "Your dead now!!" Gaara laughed and Darius had his leg caught by a tendril and was slammed down on the ground. Struggling against he sand, it began to run up his leg. Gaara made a hand sign and darius knew it was time to stop showing off and get serious.

He reached unsheathed his straight sword, its edge ws similar to inos but had a golden hue to it.

Kenjutsu: Steel Whirlwind!

A Silver and gold blur formed around him and the sand was sucked and blown out of the area he was in.

Naruto and Hinata sighed in releif, that was close. "Darius needs to stay at ranged from that guy." Naruto thought

"**Hes got Shakuku in him, kit... I can feel his aura. Your Monkey friend is making his container angry and frustrated."**

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed out loud.

"Naruto?" Hinata looked over at him.

Gaara retreated into a giant ball of sand. An Eye of sand formed above him and watched. Darius dodged a sand bullet aimed at him. Temerai and Kankuro eyes widened. He was going to transform here they thought. Hes on pure instinct now, only wanting the kids blood. Too bad for him. Darius concentrated for a moment and a low growling sound began to emit from inside the giant ball of sand.

After several seconds Darius opened his eyes and they had their golden glow to them.

Kenjutsu: Glorious Solar Saber!

Golden light ran down the length of the blade and engulfed the sword in a brillant light. Naruto and Hianta knew this from before but the others were amazed. Ino smiled. "About time he stopped playing around".

Gaara didnt pay attention to it, his transformation taking all his concentration and he relied on his sand armor to protect him.

Duuitton: Earth tunnel!

And Darius suddenly sunk into the ground. Everyone watched the arena but didnt see where Darius had gone and the eye searched for his presence.

Kenjutsu: Golden Steel Dance and temerai and kakuro saw the dome explode in a golden swirl of light...

Hianta and Naruto yelled out as gaara was flung out of the sand dome. "darius, hes a demon container, look out..."

An Explosion suddenly rocked the hokages personal seat. Else where a giant three headed snake roared to life near the gates of Konoha. Hundreds of Sand and Sound ninjas flew over the walls and into the city and the Invasion of the Hidden Leaf had come.


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 9 – The Invasion**

Darius was suddenly shocked to see Garra, his body was partially transformed into sand and had the strange outline of some demonic. His left eye was gold with a crossed pattern.

Explosions rocked through out the city and a haze of genjutsu was suddenly cast over the entire stadium. Sleepyness suddenly over took almost all the spectators, except for a handful of Anbu and Sasuke and Sakura. Forming the hand signs, they forcibly pushed the chakra out fo their system. Rock Lee and Naruto tho did not, falling under the effects almost isntantly.

Leaning down over her friend, Hinata forced chakra into naruto and awoke him. Ino did the same for Lee, who bounded up like he had been kicked.

Darius in the mean time was battling the monster in front of him. 1_4,733.... why did that pop into my head..._ Darius thought as he cleared a sand claw aimed at him.

Naruto and hianta quickly joined in the attack.

Kankuro reached abck for his puppet and temeerai pulled out her iron fan. She unfurled it in a flashy manner, reared back to unleash a massive wind blast.

Half way through temerais back swing she suddenly stopped. With a shocked look she stared at a shadow enveloping her. Shikamaru was crouched, his shadow touching hers.

"Women are so troublesome" he moaned.

"Kankuro get him off me". Temerai shouted. Kankuro appeared next to her and stood as sasuke came with a heavy iron cable. She turned her head further to see the blonde unconcious, being held by sakura.

Now now, we won't be having any unneccessary interference

Kage Bushin no Jutsu!

Narutos dashed in and out of Gaara's sand attacks, As darius whirled around, the glowing sword deflecting bits of sand shot at him.

Kenjutsu: Flashing Steel!

Dariuses blade formed a golden wall of flashing steel as Gaaras sand hand was suddenly cut in half and the blades heat cause it to form a shimmering film of glass.

"Now Hinata!" Naruto shouted. A clone tossed Hinata high into the air and inside Gaaras reach for her strikes

Protection of the Trigrams, 32 Strikes!

Hianta Blurred as she slashed out striking Gaaras body with deadly accuracy.

2 strikes! 4 strikes! 8 strikes! 16 strikes! 32 strikes! Gaaara was visibiliy hurt and he roared with pain as the last set of strikes closed off more Chakra points in his body. She leapt back as Gaara collapsed in a heap of sand panting.

"Darius, Naruto, the Hokage" Hianta cried.

Ino and Lee were assaulted by a few Sound ninjas. But they were holding their own as they fought them off. Lees intercepted kicks and dodged kunais thrown at him and followed them with a quick combination of punches. Ino, parried, and Repoisted with her rapier, striking one down by running him throw followed by striking another in the head with a hand guard bash to his face.

The Kazekage had several sound ninjas forming a dark shield of force by several sound ninja's. A kunai to the throat of the hokage, the kazekage taunted sarutobi. But sarutobi knew that it wasn't the kazekage that had him, it was orochimaru.

"So perceptive sensei" revealing his face to sarutobi. sarutobi kicked away, barely managing to avoid the lethal kunai aimed at his throat and faced his former student. A small trickle of blood flowed out of the small knick he had received from the wound.

"So sensei, what do you think of my wonderful handy work here??? Am I strong enough to be your successor now.... kukukuku!" He laughed.

"Being Hokage is more than just beign strong or having power jutsu's, orochimaru. Its about protecting all the lives of the people in this village. I am sorry you will never understand that. The people in this village are its power" Sarutobi explained.

"Silly old fool, this village is doomed, and there is no escape for you. I guess you will just have to die knowing that you failed as Hokage... kukuku, "Orochimaru laughed at him.

The sounds of battle that the Hokage was in filled the stadium and Darius thought back for a second. "Naruto, I need you to toss me at that shield"

"No! Darius, you saw the anbu, they couldn't get through." Naruto argued at his friend.

"Naruto, they can't but I can, I dont have the time to explain just throw me!" Darius shouted.

Naruto picked his friend up and channeled the kyubbis chakra, reeling back for a titanic throw. With a mighty kai shout, darius was launched at the shield.

"NARUTO!!!!" Hianta yelled.

The anbu sat back and waited, none of their attacks could penetrate the shield. The sound four inside taunted them. Haaa, your hokage is dying inside....WHAA!!!" the anbu looked back as Darius streaked up at the shield.

"HAHAHA... hes such a fool.... one more useless..."Kidomoro began saying. Darius steeled himself. The move would be exhausting but his eyes falred with golden light.

Kenjutsu: Solar Strike!!!

He flung the sword and in a split second, it was lance of pure light. The bright beam tore through the darkness, through Kidomoro torso and out above tayuya's head as the shield flickered and waved, slowly failing as kiddomoro died. Darius landed and rolled into the area as he saw Orochimaru and Sarutobi exchanging blows.

Seeing the shield and kidamoro die, orochimaru spat and evil order, kill the brat!!!

Kenjutsu: Loyal Steel

And his sword flashed back in his hand. He felt tired but was getting his second wind. Those Jutsu's are sapping my chakra reserves, but I got to help hokage-sama. At leas thte Anbu and everyone else can help. Kakashi and Guy landed next to him. "Good work Darius, How are you holding up." Kakashi asked him. His eyes flicked back and forth between the golden glow and his normal green eyes. "Im tired but I got enough left to make it interesting sensei" He smield at Jirobo.... "Shall we dance?"

"NARUTO!!!" Hianta screamed.

Narutos glance was reined quickly back as a giant hand of sand slammed down next to him.

"Im FREE!!!!!! Oh YEAH!!! Shakuku's back, BABY!!! And Im gonna kill me some insects!!!"

Hinata rolled and just barely avoided a giant claw from crushing her. They both looked up to see a giant Racoon at least 100 meters tall looking at them. Atop his head gaara was unconcious and being flung around.

Fuuton: Air bullet!

The air around them became charged and naruto saw the creature was focused on hinata not him. H e tackled her in a protective hug as the bullet hit the ground and exploded, flinging them out over the wall and into the woods just outside the wall. Hinata opened her eyes slowly to see naruto holding her tightly, his back against a splintered tree unconcious.

"Naruto, Naruto... wake up... please!" she shook his limp body. Tears were beginning to pool in her lavender eyes.

"AHHH, I see you!!! Come back and let me squash you!!!" the creature said as it gave a great leap into the air. It was bearing to crush Naruto and Hinata.

Kaiton: Grand Fireball Jutsu!!!!

A huge fireball erupted from the walls and struck the beat in the side and its great bulk landed short of naruto and hinata. Sasuke and Lee jumped down, the creatures side had partially turned to glass from the hit but Sasuke had to put a lot of chakra into that fireball.

Lee landed beside them and picked both naruto and hianta before dashing away into the forest. Sasuke barely managed to back slip a swipe of the great creatures sand hand before it hit him. He felt for a moment things slow and he could see movements he never saw before. His eye formed a second tome and he saw things in a different light. Maybe the dobe was right.... protecting people.....

Lee landed a few hundred meters outside the battle area as sasuke battled the monster. Hianta examined naruto who looked dead to Lee. Hianta only tried to hold her friend.... she didnt want to loose him... she wanted him to stay with them... with her....

"Another bowl, old man...." naruto wearily said before his eyes focused on hianta and Lee. His eyes widened as naruto realized what was happening.

"Naruto, thank god, are you hurt?" hinata asked... The sounds of a titanic battle resonated through the forest.

"How do we fight something so monsterous?" Lee asked.

"If we are fighting a monster, we need a monster, everybody hold on to me!!!" Naruto told hinata and Lee.

Summon no Jutsu!

The three of them were suddenly thrust a 100 meters into the air and were atop the largest frog he could summon, Gamabunta.

"What, you must be the brat my son kichi told me about... why have you summoned me? Gamabunta asked. Thoughts of killing his summoner crossed his mind but the face and features of the boy were familiar.

"Im sorry great frog lord sir but i am out of options... Kohona is under attack and we need help to fight that!" naruto said pointing out the raccoon demon rampaging outside of kohona. "shakuku ehhh, well, ill say that puts us in a dire situation then...alright kids, ill help you out, just calm down...

"Lee help Sasuke while hinata and i help Gamabunta"

"Yes Naruto!" Lee said and dove off in a flash. Sasuke was reaching his limit and barely had enough chakra to hold up his sharingan for a minute or so when Lee landed next to him. He looked back and saw Naruto atop a massive Frog. He moved to a safer spot to rest, the creature was unstoppable he thought... panting heavily.

"Alright!!! Frogs!!! I love Frogs legs! Take this!"The massive monster cackled.

Air bullets!!!

Gamabunta countered with a leap and readied his own jutsu.

Water bullets!!!!

The collision sent a spray of water every where.

Hianta helped by directing gamabunta where she saw openings in the Shabuku's defense. Water bullets tearing through its sand but the creature didnt stop.

Sand Claws!!!

And Shabuku lashed out with dozens of sand claws. "Theres too many kids" Gamabunta cried as a few hit him, putting minute scrathes over his body. One maanged to sail over him and Hinata got hit, slamming her against a tree. She felt something snap as she hit the tree. The sand claw didnt dissipate either, it stayed and began to slowly engulf here. The force was suffocating her.

"Haaaa!!!!! Got her!!!! now what kid? Your little girl friend is gonna die unless you can rescue her in a minute but dont worry, you and the frog will be joining her any way! Yeah!" Shabuku exclaimed gleefully.

"Hinata!!! We have to save her Gamabunta... what do we do?" Naruto cried.

"We have to wake that kid, hes the container, if we wake him the shakuku's form will be disrupted. But we have to get close to do it and i dont have any claws....We will have to do a transformation" Gamabunta told naruto.

Some thing with claws.... Here we go kid....

**Transform into me kit!**

Ummmm, got it!

Gamabunta transformed and shocked lee and everyone watching as he became the 9 tailed fox and slammed into the shabuku, his claws dug into the creatures body, holding fast as the two dropped the henge. And naruto dashed forward, darting forward to bash gaara across the face. Gaara woke but the form didn't dissipate.

Again kid!!

Desert Coffin!

And naruto was engulfed in sand, slowly being dragged under... "No, Hinata, i have to save hianta!!!"

Darius faltered for a minute and the big fat man slammed his hammer into his side. His side burned and his eyes glow was faded... Jirobo, towered over him, his curse seal raging. His hammer raised to bring it down... damn where where the others as he parried and carried the momentum away to his side. Chakra sparks exploded as the blade skidded down the the metal handle, stretching darius. He was panting, when he heard a scream down below.... naruto, hianta, Kurenai, sarutobi. The thoughts raced as the glow in eyes began to strengthened, the fire building..

Jirobo was faltering. Where did this kid get his strength from. Darius's sword glowed brighter and suddenly the beam of light seperated the handle from the head. This kids chakra... need to neutralize it now... too bad for you.

Duuiton: Earth Dome

And a dome of earth surrounded darius.

Hinata, Naruto... the eyes flared. He couldn't fall, he couldn't fail, the village needed him.. Ino needed Him, He needed them all!

"Struggle all you want ins"..... The earth dome shattered as darius fist devestated it and slammed jirobo in the chin, sending him careening over the building and down below with a deafening thud. A voice not his own spoke, "I am not finished yet".

Kakashi, was busy fighting sakon and udon, his sharingan was shown and he dodged everything the twins, had thrown at him. But kakashi couldn;t get close enoguh and his blades were poison. Gai was fairing better but the genjutsu user was taking his toll on him. Gai was visibiliy panting.

"Gai, Tag out, we need to switch opponents" Kakaishi said with a look. Gai nodded and they drew their opponents together.

"Now!" they both yelled in unison.

Tayuya was unprepared to fight he sudden assault that kakaishi brought. In a second he had broken through her genjutsu and the next second, her flute clanged in two pieces before kaikaishi slammed a raikiri through her heart, the life drained from her face before the second level curse seal was even activiated.

Sakon and udon were caught off guard as gai in a bought of incredible strength kicked both into the air and opened a single gate. The next second later, gai grabbed udons legs and slammed them together before he unleahsed a hail of blows from his inhumanly strong fists their bodies literally catchign fire in front of him as they shot like a meteor to the stadium floor below.

Sarutobi was tired. He was beyond his prime but fought on because he refused to give in... orochimaru tho was visibily upset. He didn't expect that the barrier would broken, much less by the interloper. He hadn't been warned the brat could do that. Still, he had his ace in the hole and he waited for his chance.

Time to end this old man... He held up a familiar object that Sarutobi recognized. Darius's medallion! The tendrils swirled in a strange pattern before sarutobi and darkness was suddenly enveloping him.

"Just wait there my pupil and ill show you a jutsu that not even you can know or comprehend."Sarutobi said. Darkness enveloped them and it made orochimaru laugh. The old man was delusional if he thought a simple darkness genjutsu would take him. Still he was an old man and a fool to boot.

Sarutobi stared at the darkness, not paying attention to the ominous form of the death god behind him. _Now where is he sarutobi_ thought. And in the darkness he saw a single point of light, circler and clear, that moved up and down as orochimaru laughed.

Rushing out, sarutobi grabbed him by his arms and yelled "release!". The arm of the death god rushed out going through sarutobi and slammed into orochimaru.

"Wha..wha... is this!? Orochimaru stammered. He saw a dark figure behind sarutobi and he knew what he had down.... the seal!!!

"No, I wont die you old fossil, I am orochimaru, I am immortal!!!"

He summoned his fallen sword that cut into sarutobi but was partially stopped when his staff transformed into Enma, the Monkey king. Sarutobi struggled, he had orochimarus soul partially out but he felt that the strength was ebbing... his life was draining away.

"Hinata!!!! I have to save Hinata!! " Naruto yelled the sand covering him even further.

Life gate:Open!!!

Lee yelled as he leapt up and pulled naruto out. The sand enveloping lee as it did. "Finish it naruto!" In a blinding flash of speed, naruto had hit gaara up side the head a second time. Gaara returned to consciousness as the Shakuku began to disentegrate all around him.

Gamabunta sighed with exhaustion... the kids good. He does remind me of Minato in so many ways. I wish to see the end of this but I am out of chakra. "_Good luck kid_." Gamabunta thought With a flash of smoke, the great frog vanished.

Gaara, Lee and Naruto crashed to the ground. The hand that held hinata fell apart and her limp unconcious body fell but was caught by a quick reaction by sasuke. Sasuke looked her over but saw no real critical inujured, her left leg looked bad but wasnt life threatening.

"Why, why are you stronger than me" Gaara asked. His body wouldn't move, he was out of chakra. How did he loose to him.

"I protect the ones I love, I protect those that I care for. Thats what makes me strong. I know the pain you go through, the loneliness... people treating you like a monster. But I won't let you hurt my friends, those I love."Naruto said, his eyes becoming red " I'll kill you if you do." Naruto rose, clasping his right arm, and picked up a sharp branch, and began moving towards the fallen demon container.

Gaara could finally understand why he was powerful. To fight for those that need you. Shakaku had used all his chakra and he couldn't move. He awaited the death that he rightly deserved.

"Naruto, thats enough... he's beaten" Sasuke told him. "Hinata is free and you don't have to go on anymore. We have won." Sasuke tried to reason with him.

"NO!!! He tried to kill us, you, lee, sakura, darius, Hinata!" Naruto had the look like he wanted to kill someone.

"But he didn't did he, you made sure of that. You don't want to walk down that path naruto... if not for you, then for hinata..." Sasuke told him. Hinata was still unconcious beneath a tree and her serene look made naruto drop the branch and walk over to her.

"Don't worry, I surrender. I won't be any more trouble" Gaara muttered softly. Is this what its like to have people who love you Gaara wondered.

"It looks like I will die here Orochimaru but I will tell you this, I will make it so you can never use any jutsu again. I am sorry I have failed you my pupil. In time... cough cough... we will see each other again...." "SEAL!"

Shingomai cut the arms off of orochimarus soul and dragged the arms and sarutobi back through his body and into the stomach of the shingomai. The medallion orochimaru had rolled onto the ground out of his hand coming to a rest next to sarutobi.

"Gaah!!!! my arms wont move! What have you done to me you old fool!!!" Orochimaru yelled. Kabuto landed by his side. "Orochiamru-sama, the leaf has won, the summon is destroyed,t eh sand shinobi are defeated and gaara is either dead or captured..." Kabuto explained.

"Well, at least I killed the old fool, get the medallion, we are leaving..." Orochimaru commanded. Kabuto moved to get the medallion. As he picked it up, a blackened blade sunk down in front of him and binding the medallion down.

Kenjutsu: Loyal Steel!

The blade and the medallion vanished and reappeared in Darius's hand. Darius, had blood and sweat covering his body as he stood panting.... there was no glow left in his eyes, his legs shook from over excursion, His Gia and pants were torn to shreds and he had a few deep cuts on his leg and side.

"Kill him Kabuto, he ruined the plan!". In a second, Kakashi and Gai landed next to Darius.

"Hokage-sama!!!" they cried.

Kabuto quickly leapt back and a seal activated that summoned orochimaru and Kabuto away.

Darius fell down to his hands and knees.

"was....too....late..." before collapsing into unconsciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 10 – Rebuilding and New hope**

Hinata woke in the hospital. She turned her head to a sound that was next to her. She saw naruto sleeping in a chair between her and another patient. He twitched a bit as he slept and hinata shook the groggy feeling from her head and pulled her self up.... a heavy weight was holding her left leg down and focusing a bit more she saw a cast on her left leg. She remembered the fall from the giant frog and the calw.

"Ow!" came a male voice on the other side of the partition. Naruto snorted in his sleep.

"Be quiet darius, you will wake hinata chan..." said a groggy naruto. Hinata couldn't help but giggle from the interaction.

"Not yet hinata, i wan... hinata" naruto suddenly shot up, shaking the grogginess from his head.

"Hai, naruto" she said smiling. She was suddenly crushed in a hug.

"Im so glad you are awake hinata-chan."

Ino glanced from the other side of the partition and smiled.

"Darius, Hinatas awake." Ino said happily. Darius peered around the corner, his face had a big smile on it as he saw his friends hugging.

"Good morning hinata, im glad you are up... Ino, could you help me up?" darius asked.

Darius came around the corner, hobbling, his arms and legs bandaged, bracing against ino for support as he limped out of bed. But what brought her the most attention was that Darius had his medallion around his neck.

"Naruto, darius has his...." hianta said happily. Darius gave a weak smile and sat down.

"what happened with the invasion, did we win, is everyone ok, naruto?" hinata asked.

Naruto explained what happened. Hew had rushed in with hinata and got her medical attention for her leg. Thedoctos said it was a clean break and it would heal. Darius was brought in for severe blood loss and lacerations and chakra exhaustion. The casaulties were not bad but there had been a few deaths.

Most of the village sustained some damage, but it was fixable.

The sound ninjas were routed and the sand realizing it had been betrayed had called off the attack immediately. Gaara was in custody and word came that the Kazekage had been ambushed on his way to the borders of of kohona and killed by orochimaru. The saddest news came when naruto told hinata about sarutobi. Darius explained the attack, the death fot he sound 4 and sarutobi's sacrifice. His funeral was being held later that day.

"hizashi came by to see you, he said that he wants to talk to you hinata after the funeral." naruto said. He had remembered the visit and the look hizashi gave naruto. It was like neji only a hundred times worse.

"Did he say anything to you naruto?" hinata asked.

Naruto shook his head, "no, but i don;t think he likes me much." Darius rached over and patted his friend on the back.

"yo, whats not to like naruto. You have a strange effect on people, we can't help but call you our friend."

"anyway, i went and grabbed you a change of clothes hinata when you are ready. The leg is set and you don't require immediate medical attention for now. "Ino told her.

"yes we should go and pay our respects to the hokage" hianta said with saddness.

The funeral was solemn. The coffin was lowered into the ground and buried with an earth jutsu. Yuliges were given, by jiraya, and asuma. All in all everyone couldn't help but shed a tear for their fallen leader. Team 7, 8 and 10 left minus kakashi... he just could never show up to these types of memorials... too many past memories, too much pain.

Hinata returned home that night and found hizashi waiting on her.

"Please enter Hinata-san. I know you know the truth of what transpired. Neji has told me he has informed you." Hiashi said with no emotion in his voice.

"Hai and i am sad and happy. Happy that my father is back and sad that neji has lost his." She said to him.

"What is past can not be changed but we can not be openly father and daughter. While i do have the mark, you are still the heiress and that is all that matters hinata. I feel tho that you may not be strong enough to lead the clan but i see you are trying to improve. What intrigues me more is what has caused this change and i suspect that the uzamaki boy and the orphan darius are responsible for this change. I will remind you hinata that while you are the hyuuga heiress, you are not to engage in any dishonorable acts that would shame this clan." Hizashi said with a stern, fatherly overtone.

"Hizashi sama, i woul.... never dishonor the clan... Naruto is a good friend..." hianta said with a blush in her cheeks. He was a very good friend.... though she wanted it to be more.

Weeks passed and things began to return to some sense of normalcy. The teams weren't sent out on missions during this time, they spent most of it cleaning up after the attack, repairing buildings, demolishing others and clearing debris.

Jariaya looked over the city, observing the clearing of the debris. It was still inbeleivable what happened. Sarutobi, the attack... everything. The eldeers approached him after wards for the position of hokage. But that wasnt really him. He was still too focused on other things to commit to that. But he knew that he might be able to convince Tsunade to come. It would also be a chance to get to know naruto a bit more.

"I have been gone too long. I made a pormise to the kid that i would look after when ever i could and tho i have done my best "Jariaya added "I can't help but wonder that i may have let naruto down. Jariaya looked down at the city where the three worked. Planting trees in the park that were uprooted and fixing park benches.

The teams meet at the end of the day at their ususal spot, the barbecue and grill. Naruto of course complained that he wanted ramen but since his friends were here and having a good time, he decided he could live without ramen for tonight. Besides, it allowed him time to spend with hinata and darius.

The evening began to lengthen and everyone broke off to go home. Darius and Ino walked off, leaving Hianta and naruto together for the evening. Naruto walked her home only to be shocked when he found that he walked her back to the hyuuga estate. She explained that she had moved back in now that she knew the truth. She waned to make her father proud by being the best clan head she could be for him. But she always felt like she was just so weak....

"Good evening you two" Naruto looked to see jariaya sitting in a tree, seemingly waiting for him.

"yo ero sensei, what are you doing here" naruto asked in a relaxed manner

"Gah, how many times do I have to tell ya kid, dont call me that!"Jariaya said. "I got an assignment and I want you to come along with me."

Hinata looked down at the thought of naruto leaving, no matter for how long, she didn't like being away from him.

"Ah, no thnaks. I think ill pass. Besides konoha still needs the three of us in case there are any more missions, considering how short on people we are" Naruto told jariaya.

The kids got some good insight.

"Look kid, ill level with you ok. I want you to come with me. There's some things I need to show you and explain to you. The fourth wanted me to look after you more. And since I think I haven't done a great job of that. So ill teach you a technique that the fourth showed me. How about that" jariaya offered.

Naruto thought for a minute while jariaya waited. He glanced at the hinata, who was lost in thought, her face cast down. He thought about what hinata had told him about her father and her wanting to get stronger. And a smile crept across his face.

Jiraya observed the smile and then began to dread what was coming.

"Could you show us just what the technique is", naruto said, crossing his arms.

Jiraya pulled out his hand and began to flex his hand in a circular pattern and a small whirling ball of azure blue chakra formed in his hand. It danced in swirling patterns of light and glowed in the dark night, lighting up the area. Hinata looked amazed, it looked so beautiful to her. It reminded her of naruto's eyes.

"So, what ya think kid. We gonna set off the?" Jiraya said with a smile. He could see naruto was impressed.

"Yes sensei. I will agree that we are gonna set off. Cause your gonna take hianta with us too and teach her the same technique" naruto said with a sly smile on his face. Hinata shot up with a glance at the mention on naruto's plan. Out... alone … naruto.... One could see the waves of heat being generated by the poor young woman as she glowed red in the night

The sentence caused jiraya to loose his focus and the rasengan popped out of existance in his hand, causing it to jerk back with pain. The kid must be nuts.... still hes got guts.

"It is not.... unfavorable to me" a voice said. Hizashi stepped out form behind the gates of the estate. "As long as she is no burden, I will allow it." Hizashi said bowing low to his former sensei.

"Fa... Hizashi sama....." Hinata whispered.

"Hizashi sama. I will promise she will be well cared for. As much as I cared for your brother when he was my student." Jiraya looked down at hinata who was smiling happily. She gets a lot of that side from her mother but she definitely has her fathers tenacity to try.

"Gate 9 in the morning, don't be late you two" jiraya said to them and then headed off.

"Hinata, inside. It is late and you need your rest." Hizashi told hinata in a commanding voice. She bowed and went inside, the commanding voice did nothing to break the smiel she kept on her face.

Hizashi turned his gaze to naruto. "Do not bring Dishonor to the Hyuuga boy. I will instruct you that she is the heiress to this clan and as such, you will treat her as she should be treated, with the greatest respect and caring. If you hurt her, I will make sure that you will not live to see the next day." Hizashi said with conviction in his voice. The intent made naruto take a quick gulp for courage before he turned to head home.

Elsewhere, just outside of Kohona, Two figures were silhouetted against the stars and moon, embraced in a kiss promised a month before. A kiss that would change the course of a Legend.

The morning came and Naruto, Hinata and Jariaya meet at the gates of kohona. Kurenai waited for them, and rose as they approached. A glance between kurenai and jariaya and the Sannin nodded and she fell in next to them as the two students watched. The gates o fKohona were far behind them as they came to a camp site for the night.

"N-naruto.... why... why did you wa want me to... come?" Hinata asked. Looking over at naruto as he warmed himself by the fire.

"I made a promise that i intend to keep hinata, remember... i would protect you. To help that, i knew that if jiraya could teach me this technique, he could also teach you as well. Besides, i didnt want to spend this entire trip with ero sensei." Naruto said smiling at his friend.

Hianta blushed. He wanted to spend time with her.

"Ok kids, tonight im gonna show you this basics of the technique. This is the Rasengan, a technique that the Fourth Hokage created. This is pure spatial manipulation and there is no formal training process, no technique that can help you learn this faster." Jariaya said, handing each of them a water balloon. Naruto and hianta stared at the water ballon questioning just what they were for. "With just your chakra manipulation, try popping the water balloon. Thats the first step." Jiraya.

"Now the second reason you guys are out here. Kurenai and i were sent to find the canidate for the fifth hokage." Jiraya explained.

Naruto looked up from his effort to pop the water balloon. "hey, whats wrong with me.... i should be the fifth hokage ero sensei."

Jariaya sighed..."Kid, you got a long way to go but trust me the woman i have in mind is the perfect candidate. Shes one of the last remaining true senju and her grandfather was the first hokage. And she was my teamate. The third Sannin, Tsunade." Hinata was concentrating hard and suddenly her balloon burst. Naruto and Jiraya looked amazed. Kurenai looked like it was exactly what she expected to happen.

"Wow Hinata, thats incredible!" naruto exclaimed. Hinata looked down. Naruto had not even got his balloon to wiggle a bit. She wondered if he disliked her for completing the first part so quickly.

"I guess you already have great chakra control. Typical of a hyuuga heiress i must say." Jiraya said. He reached into his bag and handed hianta a rubber ball next. "The second step is to do the same to this. This step is all about power." Hinata took the ball and immediately began trying but found it much more difficult.

Naruto had the balloon almost pop quite a few times, it was only a matter of time before he could get his pop but hianta found the rubber ball more difficult to work with.

A few days past and they were still traveling on their way to the village jiaya expected to see tsunade. Hianta and hinata worked hard. Naruto had managed to pop his water balloon and they were working the rubber ball together. But the amount of chakra required was difficult. Both could make the ball bubble and ripple but required a lot of effort to do so. It was late before the two gennin finally collapsed from exhaustion.

The next morning naruto woke up with a great yawn and found he was against a tree. The morning was just dawning through the trees. He couldn't remember when the last time he got such a great night sleep. Trying to rise, he felt something pressed into his shoulder. Looking, he found black hair covering his shoulder and hinatas quiet breathing as she slept against him.

Suddenly he felt like he didnt want to get up, it felt nice to have her sleeping against him. Well, ero sensei would want to get started early naruto thought.

"Hey... hinata... hinata..." he gently tried rousing her from her sleep. She had a smile across her face and sighed. In hintas mind, she dreamed of naruto and her dancing on a cloud, lit by a cool autumn sun. He held her tight and made her feel so safe.

The gentle rousing woke her up with a sigh. "hmmm..." hianta moaned lightly and snuggled into her pillow..... she suddenly realized she didnt have a pillow..... then what was.... she looked at naruto who was suddenly inches from her face. Her face suddenly flushed and became red.

"N-n-n-na-aru---to?" she whispered.

"Morning i think we over worked our selves last night hinata" naruto told her and she merely nodded wide eyed. She had slept with naruto all night long. The thought caused her to be rather wousy and she suddenly began to black out before naruto caught her.

"Well, you got an interesting touch there kid" jiraya told him.

Kurenai chuckled a bit. Naruto just looked confused and concerned.

"Come on kid, we are almost to the village. Tsunade should be by here anytime" Jiraya said.

Naruto reached down and picked hinata up. She was much lighter than what she appeared. What was that smell he thought... flowers?

They reached the village after a few hours. Hianta woke up and appologized profusely before she insisted that she was fine to walk again. They each took their respective balla nd continued to concentrate, passing tips on what worked and what didnt. Both destroyed their rubber balls almost at the same time. Jariaya gave them water balls again and this time told them to make the water swirl but not destroy their balloons.

The village was small but there was a small gaming casino on one side of the town. Kurenai and jiraya watched as the villagers passed, the villagers seemed to be eyeing them or at least certain ones did. A few ran off before they could get a word edge wise.

A ways in, a small gang of thugs stopped them and demanded that they pay the town toll for passage through their town. It was a small fee but they ade a mistake, sayign that in leiu of payment, they would ignore it if they could have an hour with kurenai. Jiraya and kurenai smiled. Naruto and hinata were horrified when Kurneai agreed. They could still hear the screams as the men were tortured under kurenai's genjutsu mastery.

Inside the gaming casino they found her. A beautiful striking women. In for being in her 50's she had the image of being in her 20's. Tall, blonde hair much like naruto's. Her most striking feature to jirayas mind had always been her chest. 103 cm he thought and laughed at how the flat chested tsunade had become so well endowed.

"So, the mighty and legendary Tsunade, its been ages" Jiraya said as he slipped in across from her. A swift Senboun pressed to his throat reminded him that he forgot to say hi to tsuandes assistant. "Shizune, wow, you are sneaky arent you."

A Robed women in her late 20's appeared from the other booth and removed the needle to his throat. Bowing deeply, she stood next to her master. "master jiraya, always an honor. ."

"What brings you here Jiraya. Still hunting orochimaru and serving the old man?" Tsunade said scoffing and taking a sip from her sake cup. She hadn't been in konoha for a long time for good reason. She disliked the palce and the memories it invoked in her.

Jiraya frowned, "Sarutobi is dead Tsunade" She choked on her sake and then the painful memories of her master flooded her mind. The great Sarutobi. Goen the way of her borther, dan, the fourth.

"I told the old fool that he would only get himself killed."

"HEY! Don't disrespect the Old man like that! The Old man was a great man" naruto said.

"Baka! How did you get in here and what do you care. He was my sensei." Tsunade retorted.

"Baka!? Baa chan!" naruto retorted.

"Do i look old to you baka!

"But your in your 50's, you probably did that so no one could see your wrinkled skin. I beat you look like a baa chan if that genjutsu was stopped!" Naruto told her

Jiraya sighed and hinata tried to say something to naruto but nothing seemed to come out. Tsuande and naruto continued to argue and taunt one another. Verbal jabs. Pretty soon they both were stepping outside to settle their differences.

The humilating defeat naruto suffered was by far his worst. Beaten by an old woman in her 50's. With one finger no less.

"I won't stop, thats may nindo. Im gonna show you and everyone that i will be the greatest hokage ever! " He charged her and tried to form a rasengan. For an instant, the chakra molded itself and began to form the swirling sphere but it back fired on him and exploded sending him back and knocking him down.

"Pfft, you are teaching him that technique, you must be senile jiraya. A baka like him could never learn that jutsu." Tsunade said.

"Your wrong! Naruto can learn it, he never gives up and its his determination that will see him through!" Both Sannin were surprised when that came from the little hyuuga who stood helping naruto up.

"I will bet that he cant!"Tsunade said boastfully. "But i tell you what. I'll give him a week. If he can do it, then he can have this necklace" Tsunade pointed to the 1rst hokages necklace, worth more than an entire village.

"He will do it, i believe in him!" Hinata said with force. Her conviction in naruto written on the stern look she gave the sannin.

Naruto looked over at her and saw for the first time not his friend, but a believer in him. Some who had faith in him.

Hinata looked at the rubber ball she had and then at naruto. Focusing all her faith and conviction, the rubber ball exploded in a shower of rubber dust. Picking up he friend, she and naruto left to go and train perfecting the move.

Jariaya and Tsunade moved inside, sitting back at the booth they had left.

"Look Tsuande, i know you hate the place, but we need you. I can't commit to what the job needs. I'm needed in other places. But you, you are the granddaughter of senju tsunade. I know you. I know why you can't stand Kohona, that your heart doesn't want any more greif. But what would your brother or dan say right now Tsuande. they would want you to be happy tsunade, they would want to do what ever they could for the village. Please, give it some thought."

Tsunade was deep in thought. Orochimarus offer earlier that day resounded in her head. Still, she looked at naruto and she saw them in him. Why? She wanted them back more than she could bare but she knew orochimaru was no good for his word. Not to be trusted. Liar.

"Just don't consider his offer Tsunade." Jiraya told tsunade. The look of how crossed her face. "Because if you betray the leaf village, my friend or not. I WILL KILL YOU."

Naruto and hianta practiced out of the town. For 6 days they had practiced together and both showed the wear of working for so long and hard. Hinata had chakra burns in both hands but neither wanted to quit. The area around them was littered with small craters in stone, crushed trees, craters in the ground. Once more they tried, once more they formed the swirling sphere and once more they charged a rock. The collision ate at the stone but back fired again.

Shizune found them slumped against a rock. Hinata was definitely suffering from chakra exhaustion. Her limit was reached and it was amazing that she had stayed out for so long. Her hair was matted with sweat, twisted in tangles, cuts bruises and laceration from splinters and rock shards. Naruto hadn' stopped, but he was nearing the point of exhaustion. One final attempt against a tree sent him flying back.

"Can't give up... "He muttered, passing out next to his friend.

Hinata and Naruto had a strange dream that night. An enemy they couldn't beat, neither her or naruto. It was a brutal creature and mocked them, endless darkness despair. Dark eyes, darker than the darkness peered out at them. It mocked her and called her weak and useless. It told him he was a failure and had no power to protect those he loved. Their courage ebbed, it was unbeatable. Suddenly light shown through the darkness, another set of eyes, strong, radiant, like two stars Exploding with light. Seperate, you can be conquered it told them. Together, you will not fail. And in the dream, they both looked at each other, slowly putting their hands in each others Hand in hand they tried again and it shone through the darkness, radiant light, the ball was not blue, it was silver and blue in their hands. The Darkness cried in defeat as the light drove it away.

They awoke with the same start. Stared at one another for moments. They joined their hands and tried together to form the ball again. The sphere began to form, storms of chakra swirlign in their joined hand. And the sphere formed and they marveled. Brillant, azure blue and silver as in the dream.

"Seperate we can be conquered", naruto muttered.

"Together we will not fail" Hianta finished.

"Remember these words" a voice said and faded into the dawn as the sun broke over the horizon.

**Elesewhere**

She stared at the man before her, no longer her friend, no longer her teammate, no longer her comrade. Twisted and sick. He had become everything that they fought against and down right evil. She wondered where it all went wrong. A time long ago when they were a team, when they fought for a common cause. Now, each was no longer the same. Each had taken a different path. Jiraya trying to redeem his friend, orochimaru descent into madness and her apathy towards everything the world had thrown at her.

"So, will you heal my arms then Tsunade? You can see your loved ones again. I know how much you want to hold them again tsunade hime" Orochimaru told her. He sized the situation up and knew her weakness. Her fear and her longing for her loved ones restored. She could not refuse him.

Shizune and jiraya arose and immediately felt it. Kurenai had no strength to move. What ever tsunade had given them, effected kurenai more than the others. Tsunade did not want them to interfere. She was going to accept his offer they thought.

Naruto and hinata had walked in, their exhaustion and fatigue gone and their spirits renewed. Their astonishment at the sight before them showed their worst fear. Jiraya stumbled out of his room and shizune was in no better condition.

"Tsuande, Hianta, find tsunade!" Jiraya told her as he panted.

Byakugan!

And she concentrated while naruto helped his sensei up to a seat. Shizune pulled out two vials of a strange blue liquid and injected both jiraya and herself. The numbing drug faded but did not vanish. It would take much longer for the drugs to be expelled.

"There i see her and orochimaru" Hianta told them.

They dashed out of the Inn and made their way as fast as they could towards. Tsunade. Jiraya couldn't help but wonder why? Orochimaru could have made only one offer she would consider. Jiraya frowned. He hated that snake bastard for everything he did to him, to her. And now he was playing an emotional card that struck a nerve in him.

An earth shuttering explosion resounded around them followed by the sounds of battle. Hinata was concentrating and she saw what was transpiring before the others. Tsunades words before the fight, making orochimaru promise to not harm the village for doing this. Her attempt to kill orochimaru with a medical technique. Kabutos interruption a second later and the battle had begun with a display of tsunades legendary super strength.

Tsuande surmized that kabuto had skills as a med nin. She hit im once and it should have been enough to put him down. And he was using skills she developed, instant super strength and speed tho not as finely developed as hers.

Kabuto sized his opponent for a moment. Even in her 50's and out of her prime, she was a monster to fight. Truly one of the sannin. He thought about a course of action to take as they strared one another down. Adjusting his glasses for a moment, he formed blue chakra around his hands and leapt at his opponent. Tsunade easily dodged the blows physical contact but a block with her right arm sent pain shooting through her body. Using the distraction to his advantage, Kabuto quickly struck her leg, dropping Tsunade to one knee.

"Chakra scapels??? you damaged my muscles?" she surmized.

Kabuto smiled evilly. Even the sannin couldn't move if her muscles were damaged. He had won the fight. He readied and flung a chakra charged fist at her, only for her to catch him with a full on super strength infused punch to the gut. Kabuto sailed 20 feet and bounced on the ground, before he bounded to his fight at faced his opponent.

"Ah, I see you healed the damage I caused. My, you are worthy of the title Sannin aren't you". Kabuto told her.

"Please Kabuto, stop playing with Hime there." Orochimaru told kabuto.

He charged again, zipping in an dout of her punches and kicks. A chakra scapel passed close barely cutting tsunades skin a bit when she swept his legs out form under him. Hitting the ground, she drove her knee into his solar plexus. Kabuto acted fast. Slcing his hand open he used the one fear she had agaisnt her and threw blood all ove rher face.

Tsuande gasped and trembled as she fell to her knees. The blood was everywhere and her vision was loosing its focus. Kabuto kicked her off of him and she landed hard agaisnt a boulder.

"my my that hemophilia is dreadful isn't it" orochimaru taunted to her. "I was quite serious about what I told you tsunade hime. I would have brought back your two loved ones for you. But now, you ARE just going to have to die... pity. Kukuku"

Kabuto moved in and grabbed tsunade by the hair and raised a chakra scapel up. Tsunade batted the hand away but kabuto kicked her in the stomach a few times.

"Your finished, just accept it!" Kabuto said.

Fuuton: Gale Blast!

Kabuto flew back several yards tumbling and writing himself in the air to land on his feet

Duuiton: Swamp of the Earth!!

A dark, swampy earth appeared underneath orochimaru and kabuto. A quick leap back and orochiamru and kabuto just managed to clear the swamp trap.

Hinata, shizune and naruto landed next to tsunade. Jiraya landed facing off with orochimaru and kabuto. Orochimaru just smiled his sadistic smile. Kabuto eyed the toad sage with particularly with anxiousness. He then smirked as he saw jiraya was not at his top form and surmised why. He was poisoned.

"Kabuto, shall we greet our guests properly?" Orochimaru said.

Naruto took a defensive stance. Kabuto and orochimaru. They were trying to hurt tsunade. They were going to pay. For Darius, He would make them pay. Hianta saw them and she knew what she wanted. Orochimaru had hurt naruto and Darius. Jiraya saw the kids and their conviction, taking a deadly stance to face off against orochimaru.

"Naruto and hianta, help tsunade. Shizune and i will deal with these two." Jiraya told them and the two gennins looked at jiraya with a pleading look. "Trust me guys, you arent ready"

Kabuto attacked first, leaping at shizune. He threw scapels as he leapt around while shizune dodged and spit needles out at Kabuto. Shizune went through a quick set of seals and exhauled a poisonous cloud of gas. Kabuto quickly gathered his thoughts and barely maanged being envolped byt the poisonous jutsu. Seeing he was out ranged by the needles and her poison jutsu, kabuto switched to a close range attack, diving into shizunes she was skilled as an apprentice to tsunade, she was not skilled enough. The chkara scapels cut her left and right leg tendons before Kabuto hit the pressure point on the back just below the neck, instantly paralyzing shizune.

Orochimaru and Jiraya immediately began attacking one another. Orochimaru and jiraya were both good at taijutsu and jirayas toad fu, tho greatly weakened, porved a good match vs. orochimarus snake style. Neither struck a below and orochimaru unhinged his neck and lunged at jiraya with deadly speed.

Wild Lions Mane!

Jirayas hari grew long and prickly and caught orochimaru fast, with spines and quills. Orochimaru manged to hit jirays shoulder tho and jiraya had to quickly disengage from the pain.

"my,my jiraya, all this time and im still better than you even when we are handicapped... you will be a fittign morsel for manda. That poison is a paralytic poison. It wont kill you, tho after im through here, you may beg me to kill you... just like sarutobi...kukuku" Orochimaru said evilly.

Kabuto through shizune down and naruto and hianta took up their fighting stances in front of Tsuande.

"The hell you are going to hurt Baa-shan." Naruto boasted. Hianta was silent but her stern face told kabuto that she would not be moved.

Kage bushin no Jutsu! Hianta and Naruto said.

A dozen narutos and a single hinata ran in. Kabuto was surprised, it was a new tactic he hadn;t counted on but he was skilled. Narutos clones puffed out of existance one byu one but hianta's held up well. Kabuto was throguhly impressed. He had managed to avoid a majority of the damage from the attacks but every now and then the disraction from narutos clones allowed the hinata to strike a tenken point, jutting down his chakra.

Kabuto dispersed the last clone and tagged the hinata clone with a chakra scapel, causeing it to disperse. He turned to face the two children when he heard the noice. Tsuande looked up in front of her as she saw it. The swirling chakra began to form in narutos and hinatas hands that were joined together. Orochimaru and jiraya watched with true shock as the sphere formed in their hands and was not blue but silver and blue.

Rasengan Combination!

Kabuto had no time as the two slammed the swirling ball of chakra into kabutos stomach. The swirling ball exploded with power and engulfed the medic nin , chewing its way through the ground and rock until it exploded like a little nova. Hioanta and naruto hit the ground, panting from the exhaustion, not realizing their hands were still clasped together. Kabuto lay against a rock, chakra burns all over his body.

Naruto dusddenly coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees, grasping his chest. Kabuto, laughed from where he lay. He had cut several artieries in narutos heart and the chakra points that connected it to the seal. Kyuubbi couldnt heal this.

"NO, Naruto...please , you can't die....you have to live... darius... your dream for hokage... i need you too.." Hianta broke down and cried. Tsunade souddnely saw it all. Sh wanted to believe in him, the irritating baka. Hinata saw it, jiraya saw it,... he believed like they did. She didnt want hinata to suffer her pain with dan. She was wanted, and needed.

Tsuande moved over to him and began to heal naruto. Kabuto laughed. The fools thoguth he was down. His regeneration....no!!!! He collapsed again... too much damage.... cant heal it all... he coughed up blood. Those kids... defeatesd him....

Interesting move tsuande but futile, i think ill just end his little love interest right now. Orochimaru stated and the kusanagi came spitting out of his mouth. He dove at hinata who only watched in terror as orochimaru came diving down at her and a spray of blood hit hinata. Tsuande stood between her and orochimaru, and he saw the determined look in her eyes.

"NO, not any more orochimaru. I let despair take a hold of me and hold me its prisoner. But these two showed me what i should be." Tsuande said pulling the sword out of her body. The sword wound bleed profusely but tsunade smirked. "Hinata, naruto, thank you. You showed me the road that i should take. Hear this Orochiamaru, you snake Freak! Im going to protect my friends, those that i love, everyone that needs me. Because im going back tot he hidden leaf... as the 5th Hokage!

Cellular regeneration!!!

The mark on her forehead disappeared and she healed all her wounds almost instantly.

Orochimaru was taken back.. jiraya may be disabled but tsunade was at her full strength and kabuto was near dying. And he had No way to do jutsu. Well, well, he still had another avenue to take to get his arms back.

"Futile Tsuande hime, but we will meet again. And i will burn that accursed village to the ground..." Orochimaru promised. "I have very powerful allies besides just manda..kukukuku..." The air around them became deathly cold, and darkness bloated out the clouds. Two eyes of a black darker than night opened and and the very souls of the two sannins froze with fear.

The darkness disappeared and the snake sannin and his cohort were gone. Jiraya moved over to where shizune was and helped her up. Tsuande continued to use her jutsu to heal naruto who looked peaceful as he slept. Hinata was deathly worried, her face was paler than normal.

"Will he be ok tsuande sama?" Hinata asked woriedly. Her eyes were begging for a miracle. She didnt want to loose him.

Tsuande smiled softly, "He will be alright" Tsuande said. Naruto weakly opened his eyes, looking up at tsuande and hianta over him. The pendant hung freely in front of him. Hinata had a loo of releif on her face. Naruto smiled.

"Guess this is mine now huh...Baachan" he said looking at her.

Tsuande smiled and took of her pendant. She placed it over his head on on his neck. She wanted to believe in his dream, just one more time. She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "i think i should have stipulated the rules a bit better but i think you are gonna be one heck of a hokage one day baka."


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 11 the fifth hokage**

A few days went by, the image of the dark eyes still was vivid int he two sannins eyes. What had their former teammate done. Whatever his new ally was was something dangerous. Something dark and evil.

Kurenai recovered from the drug fully that day. She had marveled at hinata telling her what they had accomplished together and showed her the technique. She thought that the silver and blue technique was a light of new hope for her students. Perhaps they would start...no, she pushed that thought ut of her mind, they were only 13... still. Kurenai smirked.

The group gathered up and began their journey back to kohona. Naruto was talking a storm the whole way back, pestering jiraya for another technique to learn. Tsunade saw that Hinata had a real interest in Naruto and then they mentioned darius. She ws amazed that this kid had a new kekkai genki. She was definitely intrigued to see where it came from.

Tsuande considered her options before her. She was gonna be hokage and she was gonna have to do alot of paper work. The old man hated it but acknowledged that it was all part of the job. Still, she thought that she could raise the medic corp training she wanted all those years ago.

Darius was out with ino. Hinata and naruto had been gone now for almost three weeks. He hoped they were ok. Ino however helped the time go by. He enjoyed her company alot. She completed him in a strange way, which was odd.

"_Im only 13... im not supposed to feel this way... well, maybe im fourteen"_ Darius reflected in his mind.

They were climbing around the mountains. Darius always looked for a particular colored rocks he used n his forging. It puzzled ino the way he knew blacksmithing. Smithing was an art that took decades to master but darius, was better at it than some masters of the art were.

"Hey darius, aren't we there yet?'Ino asked. Darius looked back and she she was winded from the hike. While not as tired as she was, darius thought that taking a break was a good idea. he could feel the fatigue building in his muscles.

"Sorry ino, i got a bit focused on this little excursion" Darius admitted. He shed his back pack off his shoulder nad leaned it against a tree close to the tree line where the forest meet the mountains. Ino did the same and they both sat and leaned against the tree, darius handing her his canteen. She brushed a bang of hair out of her face, the sweat making her blonde hair matted and tangled.

"So, how long is this going to take?" Ino asked. "Shouldn't we wait for the others to catch up?"

"The rocks i need are just on the other side of the ridge over there. Makes the best steel from what i gathered. I don't know why but it just does." Darius said. "Besides, it wont take long for them to catch up."

Ino handed him back the canteen. He took a small swallow and splashed a little on a bandanna and slung it over the back of her neck, making ino shiver and jump a bit. Darius cracked a smile.

"Sorry, should have warned you, this will help tho. Heat exhaustion is something we shouldn't fight out here being this far away from kohona." He told her.

Darius got distracted for a moment as he bacame the caring boyfriend and didn't notice the lack of sound in the area. Ino was suddenly on guard. A snap of a branch and she just pushed darius down with her as a huge blade swished over their heads and through the tree they were leaning on.

As the tree fell both of them rolled to one side and kick flipped up into a defensive stance the tree thundering as it struck the ground revealing a pair of men, a slender man ina black cloak with red clouds and an even larger man in the same attire with a huge cloth covered weapon slung over his shoulder.

"dang i missed, how could i miss!? the huge one said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"what is your business with us" darius asked in a calm tone. "Why did you attack me and my friend?"

"excuse my friend here, he is a little over zealous in his ways" the smaller man said. "We are looking for someone and need some information to his whereabouts? We know Kohona was near here and hoped that we could find the information there. however, since we discovered you two and know you are kohona ninjas we hoped that we could perhaps ask you two. "

Ino scowled at the larger man but they couldnt take a chance with these two. They didn't know the extent of their abilities. Both of them were fatigued from the hike.

"What information do you seek?"Ino asked.

"The whereabout of one naruto uzamaki, we have business with him" the slender one asked.

"And what makes you think we know a thing about this naruto?" darius asked, trying to cover the fact that he was his friend.

The slender man removed his hood and he saw those dull black eyes, the hair....uchia.... itachi! Darius and Ino took a single step back.

"Traitor! if we knew anything at all, we would never tell a traitor like you a thing" darius spat at him.

Both drew their smiled and brought sameheda to bear in front of him. A sharp toothed smile came to his face. A few limbs missing wouldnt stop them from answering itachjis question.

Darius and Ino sprung together, Drius catching sameheda with his straight blade and redirecting the energy down and away from him before it slammed down into the ground. Ino dashed and extended a thrust with her saber, followed by a rapid succession of thrusts and repoistes. Itachi seemed to lazily dodge each with little effort, the eye of the sharingan exposed and the three tomes visible. Itachi was visibily bored as she tried to connect.

"Honestly, is this the best you can do... i was much better when i was 6 years old... such a pity" itachi said.

Kisame brought the massive sword over, hammering darius into the ground as he blocked it. Kisame gave an evil smile and quickly slide it forward along darius's stomach, causing the cloth to rip and the sword was revealed to be covered in scales. Darius winced as he felt the blade sliced a series of light gashes along his stomach. He stumbled back a few steps and dodged an over head smash from the blue skinned demon.

"Please just tell us what we want, this is wasting time...." Itachi asked in a monotone voice.

Ino continued her assault forming the seal of the dragon in mid air before itachi.

Fuuton: Tornado assault

The tornado blazed to life next to ino, using the winds to push back their two adversaries. Pushing her assault, she drove kisame back to give darius time.

"Darius, hurry up and use it!" she yelled.

Darius focused and closed his eyes for a moment. The emotions were centered but he didn't feel any different. Nothing was changing.

Kisame laughed. "Samehada absorbs chakra. When we started this battle, I have been absorbing your chakra from the start so its useless to try anything. You got some skill but I didn't even work up a sweat with you." Kisame drove samehada into the ground ion front of him and made a few signs.

Ninjutsu: Water Dragon Blast!

He directed the dragon at ino who was mildly holding her own against itachi. The blast caught her off guard and drove her back, her body hitting the rock face beyond the tree line. Darius gasped and made a quick line over to her, Itacha and kisame merely walking towards them. A little blood flowed from inos mouth, indicating something was broken.

"Now, again where is naruto. I wont ask nicely anymore" Itachi stated.

Darius took a defensive stance in front of ino. Like hell they were gonna hurt her.

"Give it a rest would you, there is no way I would ever give you anything about naruto, traitor"Darius snapped at them.

Samehada flew over darius head, the thundering sound echoing through the mountains and forest as the blade slammed into the rock face at an exact point. Cracks quickly spiraled out all over the face of the rock and boulders began falling all around darius and ino.

Kenjutsu: Flashing Steel

Darius sword blurred as he deflected the heavy boulders from them. The boulders fell just feet away, coming to a rest and making a small pile all around them before he heard the truly frightening sound. The entire rock face suddenly shifted and the entire rock face began to yield to gravity, falling forward in a single large mass over them.

"NO!" Darius cried as the rock face came crashing down on them.

Itachi sighed and kisame merely whirled samehada back onto his back. They turned to leave but itachi looked back for a moment. Kisame watched as his partner listened and then quickly dove to the side as a fireball struck nearby. Out of the trees, a single boy dropped down.

Chidori!

The lightning crackled and popped in his hand. Sasuke recognized the man before him. He would never forget that face or those eyes. This is why he became a ninja, he wanted his revenge, to kill the sorry excuse for a human being before him for the pain and torment.

"Die now brother!" Sasuke screamed. Charging the short distance between them. He leapt , confident that this would be the day he avenged his family. The chidori was only inches from striking its target before sasuke fell limply to the ground.

It was all a blur to sasuke what happened next the punches, the kicks, the pain. Every strike was countered and then he was hit with a counter strike. His sharingan just didn't match itachi's. He cursed himself. Was he really this weak. Blood streaked from his nose and mouth. As itachi hung him for a moment in front of him catching his face with his free hand.

"My little brother, you managed to learn a few new tricks but your still so slow. You just haven't learned to hate enough yet. But I think I can help you with that. You will need more hate if you want to kill me sasuke." Itachi told him.

Kisame chuckled a bit and was definitely enjoying the show, so much so he didn't realize that he was paralyzed from a genjutsu. Nor the fact that a pink blur dashed from behind him and came between itachi and sasuke but at the wrong time. Itachi activated the mangekou sharingan as his eyes changed and stared into the green eyes of sakura.

Sharingan: Tsyumoi!

Itachi blinked for a moment as he was face to face with a 13 year old pink haired girl. The girl looked from side to side in a black and white universe, no sound of wind, no color to it. She was confused and readied the kunai in her hands standing in front of itachi.

"Well, unexpected I must say but I think this will be good motivation as well. For the next 72 hours little one, I will show you just exactly what pain truly is." Itachi said to sakura.

Sasuke and Sakura tumbled to the ground as her momentum carried them both away from itachi. Sasuke manged to prop himself up as started to help sakura, he noticed that she made no effort to get up. A whimper came from her lips and sasuke looked down in horror. Her eyes were wide faint, and glazed. She looked like she was in a trance.

"Save sasuke..."Sakura muttered over and over.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled. Picking up his teammate in his arms, pulling her away from itachi. Itachi merely slowly walked, clutching his left eyes with his left hand as he walked over.

"Now, perhaps you can tell me little brother... where is naruto?" itachi asked.

Rasengan Combination!

Two voices yelled as one as itachi barely manged to dodge a glowing sphere of blue and silver light that opened a crater in the ground where he once stood. His leap took him next to two individuals. An Amorous looking women and a rather large white hair older man.

"Ah, jiraya and tsuande, the legendary sannin. So the little brat over there must be naruto. Interesting technique indeed but I think my friend and I...kisame get up and stop playing stupid with that jounin please." Itachi said.

"Ah, but it was fun, she was actually giving me a challenge" Kisame retorted before grabbing kurenai and fling her into a tree close to the two sannin. Kurenai looked over with shock as kisame joined his friend.

"Naruto uzamaki, please come quietly with us and we will leave here peacefully. No one else needs to get hurt here." itachi said. He moved towards naruto as hinata got between him and itachi.

"No one move, ill take care of these two!" Jiraya said and formed a quick set of seals and slammed his hands down. The area was suddenly engulfed in darkness and then the light faded to reveal a pungent moist dank pink room.

"Welcome to the insides of the toad stomach. No one can escape from here and this is the end fo the line for you two." Jiraya said with confidence. Tsunade held her nose, the smell was awful but it was a masterful move. None had ever escaped.

Kisame fought against the area but his sword couldn't pierce the rubbery skin and tendrils lashed his arms and burned him causing him to wince in pain.

"Im gonna kill that guy!!" kisame said with anger.

"Stop kisame, we can't fight jiraya, we will loose, I have to get us out of here" itachi said. Turning both ran off into the darkness. Jiraya smiled. Like they could ever escape this. They can run all they want, its no use.

But a blast of heat told him differently. Quickly the group ran down tot he source and found a hold burned open into the outside. The flames still burned as well. Strange black flames. Jiraya looked puzzled as naruto approached, hianta and jiraya pulled him back.

"Don' touch them naruto!" jiraya told him. He pulled out a scroll from his scroll case and sealed the black flames away. Thinking that later he could examine just what this technique was.

With a quick set of seals, the toad stomach was released but the two were already long gone. Sasuke still held sakura in his arms as her head lolled to one side. Sasuke was visibily crying .

"No, no no, I didn't want her to...." he was mumbling. Tsunade rushed over to check her. Sasuke recoiled from the sannin clutching the girl tighter to him.

"shh, its alright, I am just going to check to make sure shes alright... its ok...." Tsunade said. Tsuande went about checking the girl, who while not physically hurt, had experienced some massive psychological trauma. It would just take her time to snap out of it.

A scream from the cliff alerted the others to a more pressing problem. It sounded like ino to naruto and hinata.

"help, anyone please" a muffled cry came and tsuande was left with sasuke as the others went to see where the source came from. Closing in, they could see a huge section of the cliff face had fallen away recently..

"Ino? Where are you!?" naruto and hianta cried.

"Hurry, please hurry, under the rock... god, hurry!!!!" ino cried, the distress in her voice was desperate.

Hinata activated her byakugan and gave a startled cry. Darius as holding the rock face up from a prone position, with ino next to him. She could see that strange glow flowing through him.... several internal injuries were visible and how he was holding up the rock face was a mystery, he was doing it with one hand, his other arm was broken.

"Darius is holding it up, but im not sure how much longer he can do it!!! Jiraya-sama, naruto you have to hurry!!!" hinata said.

Duuitton, earth pillars!

Jiraya formed a great earth pillars that lifted the massive rock face up several meters. Ino began to drag out darius, her face was caked with dirt and dust, lines of runny mud formed from the tears she shed. Darius was still frozen in the same position. The three saw it, his left arm was broken badly and clutched to his side as he panted heavily. His eyes were tightly shut. As they cleared the rock , jiraya let the jutsu fall, the earth pillars sinking back into the earth.

Tsuande gently placed sakura in sasukes arms and rushed over. The boy looked like he was going into cardiac arrest to her, his heart was thumping fast, too fast, she thought, have to clam him down. She placed several fingers over several parts of his back and then pressed hard, darius body suddenly went stiff and then went limp. Ino thought the worst and cried into darius torn shirt.

"No... Darius... dont die...." she sobbed.

"Shhh, shhh, its ok, I had to put him unconscious.... ino was it.... he's not dead but we need to get these two to kohona immediately." Tsuande suggested.

It was a few days later when sakura was having that vision, the pain he suffered, what he inflicted on sasuke. No more, no more she screamed over and over.

She awoke with a start and stared at the white tiled ceiling and listened to the beep of the medical equipment. A dark haired boy with a blue shirt slept next to her, the position looked uncomfortable but exhaustion must have finally overcome him. She just stared, she couldn't believe what she saw.... sasuke was there waiting for her... he cared.... her eyes watered with happiness as she reached her hand over and gently stroked his dark hair, grimy from lack of hygiene... she wandered how long he had been out. Light cascaded into the room and gentle voice told her to sleep again, causing her to pass out.

Elsewhere, Darius was having that dream again. The cry of help, the scream, the image of an explosion, the pain in his heart.... the eyes.... those dark eyes.... no, not her, please god, no....

"ALEYA!" he shouted. Thrashing around in his sleep, the restraints barely held him to his bed before Darius stopped and cried in his sleep. Tsunade stood in front looking over his chart. The arm has bad, ti would never heal right and his career as a ninja was probably done. Such a pity. She watched his face and then looked down at the girl sleeping next to him. She was not the same. Stress of the event was tearing at her mind, emotions were leaving it tattered. Tomorrow, they would have to make a decision. He would have to loose the arm.

She walked over and checked on sasuke and sakura. Sasuke was asleep but the girl was awake finally. She looked strong, a fine konichi. She risked her life for him. And she glanced down at his shoulder. The handy work of her former teammate visible. The former apprentice anko had been working with kakashi to help the boy control it. It was something that he would have to live with for the rest of his life. Still she took some comfort in knowing the boy still cared for something other than revenge.

Naruto sat impatiently with hinata and kurenai when tsunade walked in. The news was definitely grave. The arm or his life tsunade had told them. They asked to go see their friend and the three were let into his room. As they came to the entry, naruto stopped, he tried to steel himself for the pain that he was about to see.

Entering the room, they saw two things that didn't belong. The slender tall women with long flowing white hair. She spoke softly to the sleeping boy and girl. Her voice sounded like music, deep and yet soothing to them all. Each heard it differently. To naruto, he never heard the voice before but it was all too comforting, soothing. To hinata & Tsunade, it sounded like their mother.

"Who, who are you?" naruto asked, unable to speak above a whisper.

The woman merely turned her face a bit and spoke in the voice of a chorus of angels, "Family" was the plain answer. Hinata saw something familiar in the womans eyes, radiance. The woman stared at Hinata a moment before a smile crept along the womans face. For a moment, a single tear slid down the womans face. "Family"

An instant later, they stood in the room again, the room looked as it should, but ino and darius were asleep still. Naruto and hianta rushed over and saw the miracle before them. Darius bore no wounds, no scars, his arm healed as it was never broken. Tsunade questioned the nurses immediately. None knew what the hokage was referring to, no one was allowed in darius room and the nurses saw no one.

Looking down, a single diamond lay on the floor, formed in the pattern of a tear shape. Hianta picked it up and it felt strangely warm to her.

"Uggg, why does it feel like I was hit by a mountain...."Darius said groggily. Clutching the side of his head he found ino sleeping next to him. And then he saw the restraints and looked up at the 4 others in room with a sheepish smile.

"umm, did I really need these?" he asked.

Ino cut his sentence off with a bone crushing hug followed by the rest of them. Tsunade smiled, still awes struck and yet grateful that her godson was happy that his friend was going to be ok.

"Ah, tsunade sama I presume." Darius said when his friends let go. A knock on the head from naruto changed his tune.

"Thats Hokage sama darius, baa-chan is now the fifth ho..." naruto was about to finish before tsuande clocked him out with a super strength punch.

"Never call me that!" Tsunade said in anger while naruto lay in a stupor..."ow!"

It was a week later and team 8 stood in the hokages. They all had been released back to their respective duties with some additions. Shikamaru, Ino and Darius were given promotions to chunnin. Hinata and Naruto received commendations and promised that with some extra hard work, they could be promoted to chunnin as well. Naruto couldn't help but wonder after all he had done that the council was holding his promotion back due to fear of his tenant.

**And shouldn't they fear me monkey... this village would be ash if not for the fourth and you monkey.**

Jiraya had left to discover why akatsuki was interested in naruto. He feared for his godson and orochimaru's plans had taken a bit of a turn with the things around sasuke as well. Whatever visited darius that day did the same to sasuke. The mark was gone. Orochimaru held nothing over the boy and jiraya knew that his former teammate wouldn't stand idlely by.

Hinata was getting more of her family training in her combat style but hizashi wanted to see just exactly what jiraya had taught her. While it took her some time, she managed to form the rasengan in one hand by herself tho it felt off without naruto. Hizashi thought how similar it was to kaiton but in a much more compact version. Her explanation of how she learned it tho drew a frown from her father. Reminding her of her obligations and duties, he again warned her to keep her contact with the uzamaki boy to a minimum. She sadly nodded, knowing that she was disappointing her new found father. But she wouldn't let her naruto go. Together they could not fail. There was nothing they couldn't do.

_Family _she thought, remembering the womans one word. She seemed to stare through hinata's soul but she didn't feel violated at the thought rather the opposite.

Naruto, Darius, Lee and Sasuke formed a tighter friendship during the month. None could believe what transpired. Darius & naruto pondered the meaning of what was said. They had no family, he had no kin. Their friends were their family. Sasuke seemed to open up more as well to them. He seemed to start grasping the meaning of the words naruto said to him. He didn't want to let his precious people get hurt.

Ino remembered it all too well, the voice was soothing. But she remembered the voice saying "Give him strength, he will need you before it is all over"

It played ominously in her mind. A future where he would need her for strength. She could not imagine it. Darius was always there. The image of him on the bridge, the strength he showed to save her. The time during the exams, giving her spirit the encouragement it needed, defending her from that monster Orochimaru. Training with Asuma, showing her the secrets of blacksmithing he knew, forging the weapon that she carried with her. The secrets of the fencing techniques. His strength during the finals. The incredible strength and perseverance to hold the rock face up after it fell on them. How could he need her strength.

Tsunade looked up from the mountain of paper work that was piled upon her new desk. She hated this part of the job and it was a non stop avalanche. Her thoughts drew back the memory of her mentor, sarutobi sensei. She sighed inwardly but the sight of the rookies out and about the town gave her new found hope for the future. She wanted to make this future better for all. And these rookies would be the key.


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own naruto and i don't pretend to.

Darius is my own creation and belongs to me.

**Chapter 12 True Friends**

Several months went by in Kohona. Celebrations abounded these days. Team 8 was walking towards the gates to Kohona, returning from a recon mission for the land of fire, gathering information on troop placements of the earth country along the border. It was blissfully uneventful. Naruto tho was itching these days to let loose. Darius merely shrugged glad the time it gave him to mark up his maps for revised ones. Hinata noted that the rivers had expanded and receded during the last monsoon events, changing a few important land markers. She had a sharp mind in his estimate.

"Asuma and teams 7 & 9 were waiting for their return. They sat lazily around the gates. Asuma and Shikamaru playing shogi. Or more to the point, Asuma getting trounced by a only marginally interested Shikmaru, who used the time to relax and nap. Choji and Kiba explained pleasantries, Akamaru sharing taking the time to snag a chip and running off with it while choji chased him. Ino sat in contemplation as she was to do when Darius was away. Sakura and Sasuke talked about plans for later, while pulling Ino out of her depression.

"Seriously Ino, Darius wouldn't want to see you like this. You know hes going to be fine" Sakura told her friend. Ino just glanced up and sighed. At least she had her boyfriend. Hers was out on a mission.

"I can't help it, theres just nothing to do when hes gone." Ino commented.

"Ino, you really need a hobby. Pining over Darius gets annoying" Sasuke added.

The sight of team 8 rounding the bend brightened everyones day. Darius of course ran over and hugged his girlfriend tight. Naruto, Hinata and Kurenai came up behind them. Pleasantries were exchanged, Naruto and Sasuke actually were civil to one another. Something about training out in field 7 later with the guys.

Ino joined the group, Darius chatting up a storm about maps and places he wanted to explore when he got the time. For a beauty queen, Ino was suddenly enjoying the outdoors more than usual these days. Ino left to help her mother with the flower shop, promising to meet up with them later.

Tsuande sat at her desk Shizune handing her paper work and Tsunade reluctantly filling them out. Team 8 knocked and waited for permission. Naruto wanted to go straight in but was held back by Hinata and Darius for manners and being rude. He grumbled, not liking to wait long and sat. It was 15 minutes before the door opened and the elders walked out of the room. The glares they shot at Naruto instilled some unsettling feelings in his friends. Especially the heavily bandaged one walking with a distinct limp and a cane.

Team 8 reported on the success of the patrol and submitted their findings. Numbers were not alarming and nothing out of the ordinary in the report. Tsuande dismissed Team 8 and gave them some time off for rest.

Team 7 & 8 met at the training grounds a few hours later. Sasuke seemed especially confident today. The other 4 left their teamates to spar while they watched and talked. Hinata noted how much Naruto's taijutsu had improved but also noted that sasuke got a lot better timing. Naruto kept his head in the spar, using clones to give him leverage and needed boosts here and their. In the end, it was a draw match as both Naruto and Sasuke were collapsed on the ground, soaked in sweat. Bruises and cuts showed how hard they had been working each other.

"Well,I'll give that an 8/10 for the effort but the finish lacked a bit in my opinion" Darius commented

Hinata and Sakura glared at him. It was the first time he remembered Hinata glaring daggers at him. Kiba just grinned and Akamaru yipped. Sasuke and naruto slowly got up, making their way over to the log the others were sitting on. They chatted about their missions again before darius felt the cold steel pressing against his neck.

"Took you long enough, I watched Sasuke and Naruto spar for almost an hour. Twice even." Darius stated in a lightly sarcastic tone.

"Well excuse me for having to help my parents. I think you and daddy need to have that talk Darius" Ino said to him and the blood drained from Darius's face.

The others looked over at Ino and saw her wide smile as Darius began to sputter for words to come out.

"Gotcha" She smiled at him.

The others burst into laughter as Ino ran off, Darius in hot pursuit.

"Get back here Ino!!!" Darius yelled.

Sakura and Hianta practiced next, the two showing off their exceptional chakra control and agility. Hianta weaved herself in and out of Sakura's quick fists, demonstrating her proficiency with the Iron Fist Technique. Hianta used her Juuken fighting style and the two were matching each other quite well. However over time, Hinata had closed the points on Sakuras arms, slowing her fists down. By the end fo the fight tho, both were panting from exhaustion and neither had given up.

Eventually Kiba, Naruto and Hinata left leaving Sasuke and Sakura on the field. He was still silent as she practiced her chakra techniques. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how her hair looked, even matted with sweat from exerting herself. The difference her advice had made in his life. Itachi really didn't seem that important to him right now. A small smile formed on his lips.

Catching Sakura off guard, he swept her legs out from under her and caught her in a single move. The exercises Gai and Lee had put him through showed through his sheer speed. Sakura looked flustered by what just happened and began to move to counter it before Sasuke planted his lips on hers, driving out all the will to fight him from her.

The kiss lasted for a minute before Sasuke broke it slowly. Sakura felt like she was floating on a cloud.

"Thanks Sakura. I don't know what I would have done without you." Sasuke softly said to her.

"Such a touching scene" a voice said from the treeline.

"Image: Sickening" another voice said.

Sasuke and Sakura quickly got into a defensive position, looking around the training field. Darkness hung in the air but both of them didn't remember night coming to fast. There were no stars, no moon, just shadows and darkness through the trees.

"Sakura, get out of here and get help, I have no idea who or what these clowns want but I think it may be too much for us" Sasuke whispered to his companion behind him.

"I'm sorry, the teammate your currently trying to contact is indisposed!" the female voice behind him said.

Sasuke whirled about and saw a female ninja dressed from head to tow in black garbs, long silky lace hung from her arms and her black dress showed too much. Her skin was black as night and eyes were dark soulless orbs of death.

Several figures stepped out of the shadows, a small man with glasses and a simple grey gia, a hulking man with long white hair, shirtless with dead eyes of deep blue. A third figure was a male with cropped hair, a kimono of white and red. Across his face was a dull grey eye guard, obviously holding some dark secret behind it. Sakura lay behind them, facing away from sasuke.

Sasuke attacked. His sharingan activated, the two tomes circling slowly as he sized his opponents up. He shot over, his increased speed giving him an advantage over the small one with glasses, managing to sweep his legs out from under him. The larger man with the face guard took up a brawling form, bouncing lightly on his feet. His punches were fast but Sasuke's sharingan showed him his likely moves, allowing him to plan ahead. The punches pushed him back but Sasuke rolled and tossed kunai with wires attached ensnaring his opponents. The opponents were caught off guard tho the largest opponents seemed unimpressed.

Ninjutsu: Fire Dragon!

The flames raced down the wires and engulfed his opponents. Using the fires cover, Sasuke grabbed sakura and ran for it. The darkness faded and he could see Kohona approaching as he leapt through the trees. Safety was just a few hundred meters away.

The darkness ensnared him again and this time, the blows seems to come out of thin air, sending him crashing to the ground. The woman in black stood in front of him and made a set of seals. Sasuke waited for the jutsu. But nothing came and the woman looked as stunned as Sasuke.

"Guys get over here!!! Anyone from Kohona, i need a hand!" Sasuke yelled.

A metal arm slammed into Sasuke, sending him careening towards the ground from his defensive position. His vision swam in and out as he heard the voices.... arguing. He felt his shirt torn open and gasps. No mark they said.

"Query: Next course of action. Awaiting response" the small one said.

"We take him and the girl. Alter the plan. Put the girl in the barrel, Ebony will give us cover. Armstrong can take the boy while we move to orochimaru. Kyou is on point " the tall one said. Sakura was dumped into the barrel and the lid was closed. The taller one made a sign to move out.

Eight trigrams: Empty Palm!

Dynamic ENTRY!!!

Shuriken Storm!

Lee, Neji and Tenten broke onto the scene, kicks, punches, and shurikens flying. Lee managed to kick the smaller guy,sending him flying into a tree and making him drop Sasuke. Neji's empty palm shoved Ebony away, the darkness fading as she lost her concentration. The shuriken storm forced the other two to take a more defensive position. The man in the with the eye guard seemed to easily dodge and parry the storm of shurikens. The larger man moved behind cover, plucking out a few shurikens that hit him. Sasuke was injured and shakily rose as the four sneered at the group.

"Well, ill guess we will have to have a consolation prize then. The girl will make a fine breeding stock for the experiments" Kyou said coldy.

"noo....." Sasuke collapsed and the four sound nins took off. It was a few minutes later when team 8 and 9 arrived. Sasuke was dazed as they sat him up and he was shaking off the stunning effects of the attack.

"We have to go after them, they kidnapped Sakura!" Sasuke said with the last comment kyou said playing in his mind.

Sasuke looked dejected but Naruto put out his hand. His smile of confidence helped to shake off the thoughts of doubt he was having.

"We will get her back Sasuke. I know she means a lot to you but she means a lot to a lot of us too. I promise we will rescue her and i don't go back on my word Sasuke. Thats my nindo." Naruto told his friend.

Sasuke took the hand and nodded. He knew Naruto was right. He couldn't just sit there and mourn, especially since they weren't out of this fight by a long shot. He would not abandon her to a fate that was worse than death.

Hinata and Neji were scouting the long distances searching for the group... they both saw them at the same time but.... there were two seperate groups.

"Two groups... not good...but lets think about this logically. " Shikamaru said" The two groups are headed in two separate directions. One is headed directly to the nearest sound border, the other is headed in a different direction. The more experienced group should try and intercept the one headed for the border. The others should handle the group headed the other direction, since we don't know all about all of Orochimaru's hideouts." Shikamaru finished explaining. "Naruto, I need you to make a clone and send it to the hokage to inform her of the situation."

KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!

A clone of naruto appeared and took of back to kohona.

Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Lee, Choji and Tenten would head to intercept the first group. Sasuke, Naruto, Darius, Shikamaru and Neji would intercept the second group.

Hinata glanced over at naruto. She hated the fact that they had to go in seperate directions but shikamaru was intelligent. Sakura needed them. And she would help her friend anyway she could. Hinata needed Naruto. The thought made her blush with embarrassment for a moment before she banished the feeling. She had no time to think such things. She felt selfish about thinking of her feelings before Sakura's and Sasuke's, causing her eyes to be cast down with guilt.

"Hey it will be alright Hinata, we are going to get Sakura back. I promise" naruto said with his usual conviction.

This helped to ease Hinata's guilt and made her smile. " Hai, we will Naruto. I promise too" She said looking at Sasuke.

Darius handed Ino an ear piece.

"Stay in communication, we need to know which group will be the fakes so we can regroup to fight together, Ino." Darius said "And don't take any chances with these guys. If they are as good as Sasuke says, they can easily be the deadliest opponents we have ever faced. And frankly, I don't want to have to explain to your father..." Darius trailed off.

A quick slap across the face brought him back to reality. Ino stared at him with some annoyance.

"And you think I don't feel the same way. Look, we are wasting time. DON'T DIE!" Ino sternly told him before the others leapt to follow their group. Ino gave him a longing look before she joined her team, disappearing in front of him in a flash of purple and gold.

"Darius, hurry!" Naruto yelled and Darius was shown back with his companions in pursuit of their targets.

The teams were moving quickly. Neji and Hinata were pushing their byakugan abilities as far as they could. And the distance between the groups was beginning to diminish. In the land of fire, they had he advantage. They knew the terrain, they were familiar with the shortcuts. It was only a matter of time.

Tsunade was just relaxing, the mountain of paper work was finally thinned enough she could actually take a break. Shizune had even relented a bottle of sake for her to have and she decided to take her time and savor the moment of actually having some free time.

"Naruto you can't go in...."Shizune started to say from the other side fo the door before it was suddenly kicked open.

"BAA-CHAN! Theres an em" Naruto started to say before Tsunade spewed sake all over herself.

"NARUTO HOW MANY TIMES DO .." Tsuande started to scream.

"SAKURA WAS KID NAPPED BY SOUND NINS BAA CHAN!" Naruto screamed.

"What? Tell me everything that happened now Naruto!" Tsuande said, shifting into her leader self.

Naruto explained the incident to her in as much detail as he could remember. The plan was to go after the two groups. Naruto identified who was in the groups and the direction they were last headed. Once the information was relayed, she told Naruto to wait but the Naruto she was talking to suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade looked over the report roster. Kakashi, Gai and Asuma were all away on missions. There was only one ANBU she knew she could trust solely with this mission and was far to valuable to risk. Kurenai was available and Anko. She pondered her options and then an idea struck a chord in her mind.

"Shizune, bring the Suna representatives to my office." Tsunade said." I have a favor to ask of them."

The trees were flying by as the shinobi were straining to make themselves move faster. Hinata's byakugan told them they were close and she signaled for a halt. The group had stopped and were trying to determine the best course of action.

"We should just go back and take Sasuke. And kill the girl. Shes useless to us." Ebony told the others.

Kimmiaro shrugged. "We bring back the girl. Sasuke will come for her and any friends he brings, they will not stand a chance."

"Point: This is highly illogical. Query: When do we get to kill?" Armstrong asked in a monotone voice.

"We waste time here and the ones following us will not wait for us. Kyou argued.

Darius and Sasuke were standing in the tree, looking down at a particular spot.

"Your sure Tenten hit the big guy right" darius asked Neji.

"Yes, several in fact. I saw the guy pulling one out before i blacked out darius" Neji told him.

"Crap the other one is a trap! Ino... abort!!!" Darius said over his com.

Hinata stared when Ino tensed and listened. Her eyes widened and Hinata saw it and then the change in the area in front of them. The four all made a seal of the tiger.

"Run!" Hianta yelled out.

Explosives tags detonated, hundreds of them, creating a large crater out fo the area. Choji and Tenten lay on the ground. Kiba and Akamaru was slammed into a tree and unconscious. Hinata, Lee and Ino used their agility to dodge the storm of trees and rocks.

The explosion was large enough to be seen by the others and Kohona.

"Hinata! Ino! " Naruto and Darius cried.

"well well, looks like our little diversion and trap worked." Ebony told them as the group slowly emerged from their hiding spot.

"Too bad for your little friends, i'm sure they will be picking little pieces of them out of those trees" Kimmaro said in a dead tone.

"Action: evil laugh. Muahahahahahaha!!" Armstrong said.

"Such is the fate of those who would hinder the great orochimaru." Kyou stated.

"Curses upon you all. Surrender Sakura to us or we will force you to give her back." Sasuke demanded.

"Pfft, like you 5 are any threat. " Ebony said plainly.

" Besides, which one of these barrels contains the girl. You will never know." Kimmaro said in his typical dead tone. "Ebony, finish them off.."

Kenjutsu: Glorious Solar saber!!

Darius dashed forward at the black skined woman, as the darkness fell around them. The blade caught them all by suprise and the woman screamed in agony as the bti into your flesh and seared a deep wound. Darius faced his friends as the other 3 leapt in different directions. The golden light blazed in his eyes and his voice deepened so it echo when he spoke.

"Go!!! I will deal with this woman!" He told them. "Save Sakura, Sasuke! Save the woman you love!"

"Fool, how can they get anywhere through my darkness. "

Genjutsu: Dark with No Moon!!!

The darkness grew around them and they could not see, only Darius's saber glowed as the gloom blinded them.

Kenjutsu: Beacon of Light!

With a brandish he brought the sword and held it high into the air. The light banished the darkness as his friends made a mad dash for their targets.

"My my, aren't we a touchy one. Orochimaru warned me about you. It will be interesting to see that radiance inside you die as i smother it in darkness!"

The darkness ebbed and redoubled, blinding darius from seeing his target. Steel glinted and flashed. Kunais flew through the air, only to be struck down in mid air. Darius rolled as the the darkness hide the shurikens from his sight but not his other senses.

Kenjutsu: Flashing steel

The golden blade whirled in the darkness shedding light in a disco-esk form. Shurikens and kunai deflected off the whirling blade. Several exploded around him, sending darius hurtling into a nearby tree. He just dodged a barrage of shurikens that glinted out fo the darkness.

"How do you like it, my cursed seal makes me so much stronger and without your sight you are at a disadvantage. I can see you but you cant see me. Hehehe" Ebony taunted him.

He had to think about this fight. The light in this darkness served to put him at a disadvantage. He concentrated and let the light fade from the blade until it was dull and black. Just keep her busy for a while longer he thought. Feeling behind him he felt the bark of a tree.

He jinked a little too late, feeling a shuriken hit him in the leg. The pain racked his leg but he then knew the direction it came from. Quickly diving behind a tree, the made a few hand seals and sunk into the ground, leaving a clone above to fool the woman. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small cylindrical object of glass. And waited for his chance

_**Elsewhere:**_

Armstrong was leaping from tree to tree. He anticipated that there was an 81% chance that there would be an ambush coming up as he leaper into a nearby tree. The man jumped and found the most logical spot for the ambush but no one was there.

"Problem: illogical......." Armstrong said and stood absolutely still for a few moments.

The man shook tilted his head a bit before he moved to leap into a tree and found that he could not. Shadows were wrapped around his legs standing nearby was Shikamaru who was coldly observing his opponent.

"Well, that was easier than I thought", Shikamaru said. "Come little guy, let Sakura out of the barrel." Shikamaru commanded him." Let not make this too troublesome."

"Query: Illogical. Not in current possession of female in question. Answer: Over whelming force." Armstrong said.

Shikamaru was going to say that it was futile until the guy moved. Barely having anytime Shikamaru ducked the blow just in time as it shattered the truck of the tree he was up against. Pulling its arm out he saw the skin was peeled back, showing veins of silver and steel.

"Dang, my shadow jutsu's won't work on this guy", Shikamaru thought and started to reformulate his plans.

"What the heck are you some kind of puppet?" Shikamaru asked slightly annoyed.

"Answer: negative. Unit is functioning and sentient. Begin termination process of subject, Shikamaru Nara" armstrong answered.

The little man took a stance and his arms seemed to seperate a bit. The gia he was wearing was suddenly ripped of, revealing silver and black wires and tubes running through his whole body.

Armed and Targeted: Shuriken Catapult!

A storm of shuriknes fired from the little mans left arm shredding the tree behind shikamaru until it was cleaved cleanly in two pieces. Shikamaru rolled as the living puppet was walking the stream of shurikens at him.

"Request: Stop running: Die now" The living puppet said to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was thinking about his opponent for a moment as the little machine destoryed another tree. He observed that it was striking at logical areas of where Shikamaru was hiding. Shikamaru got the idea of turning that against it. A storm of shurikens struck the tree he was behind and several sliced into his leg.

"GAH!!!" Shikamaru grimaced as he hobbled behind a rock.

He looked at the damage the shurikens had inflicted but they weren't too bad. The leg still slowed him. He noticed the blood had left a trail to the rock and he knew his path he needed to take, quickly ducking behind another tree as Armstrong destroyed it a second later.

_**With Neji:**_

Neji whilred around, diving around blows that were too close and kyou threw fast and precisely target strikes against him. Neji was moving on pure defense against his opponent. He could see the chakra network all over his opponents body but every time he defensively struck a tensu point, nothing happened.

"What, have you lost your arrogant hyuuga attitude. Can't you fight a simple opponent like me? Isn't it your fate to win against any opponent that doesn't carry your bloodline you arrogant smug punk" Kyou taunted.

"You have yet to strike your opponent and your arrogance will prove to be your down fall. Only a fool would give in to his anger" Neji shot back.

As the fight continued, he could tell his opponent was clearly designed to fight against anyone who was a jukken user. Orochimaru had prepared him well for this fight. A glint of steel showed that the mans tensu points were all armored. He could still win. He just had to wait until his opponent made a mistake and used a kaiton to crush him.

The form suddenly blured for a moment and Neji found himself on the ground.

It couldnt be. How did he find the spot neji thought.

"Thats quite simple my dear little brother" Kyou said, taking off his eye guards. Pale obs looked back at Neji and he suddenly understood.

"To fight a hyuuga, you must be one. But i was deemed a failure by the great and mighty hyuuga clan. And they used the seal to seal away my byakugan. I was thrown away like trash little brother!!!" Kyou shouted. "But Orochimarui found me and he found a way around the seal by giving me better eyes. I no longer can see chakra points, i can see the muscles, skeletal structure, ligaments, organs and i have been trained to crush them with deadly accuracy. And that precious secret of the byakugan blindspot, yes, i knew about that too. Once i crush you, orochimaru will favor me. And ill be able to upgrade my eyes further. And i will help him crush the clan that used me like they are using you. I will get my revenge!"

Kyou threw himself at Neji who found it difficult to move. As kyou got close, he could see the deadly chakra built in his hands move closer to him.

_**Still Elsewhere:**_

Sasuke and Naruto were moving as fast as they could. Kimmiaro was not fast and Sasuke's sharingen showed he wasn't making any attempt to hide is trail.

"_He wont get away. We will stop him. They can't take Sakura from me"_ , Sasuke kept thinking.

Sasukle and Naruto neared a clearing and found Kimmiaro sitting next to the barrel waiting. He seemed to be meditating on something. Naruto wanted to rush out immediately but Sasuke knew something wasn't right. This guy was off.

Sasuke tensed and pushed Naruto down. A white kunai struck a branch above them and bured itself deep into the tree.

"That guy! He grew a bone from his arm and threw it at you Naruto. He knows we are here." sasuke said.

"Well, then lets not keep him waiting!" Naruto smiled.

Kage Bushin No Jutsu!!

A dozen Narutos appeared around them, and jumped into the clearing. Sasuke and Naruto quickly followed suit.

"I'll use my clones as a distraction. Once hes concentrating on my clones wait till he gets clear and then hit him with a fire jutsu, the strongest you got." Naruto explained in a whisper.

"No way ill hit Sakura dobe" sasuke added.

He was worried that this plan may end up hurting the person they were trying to rescue.

"I'll take care of that just trust me" Naruto said.

"Ok, lets go guys, Uzamaki assault formation one" Naruto said, making up the name on the spot.

Sasuke sighed in annoyance. The clones all proceeded to attack their target and Kimmaro was bored until a clones began to use a combination attack. Kimmaro was suddenly pushed off balance and kicked up into the air, as sasuke found his opening. The clones all began to thrust Kimmaro higher and higher until Naruto gave Sasuke the signal.

Kaiton: Grand Fireball!

The blazing fireball slammed into Kimmaro Engulfing him in flames and pushing him even farther into the air. Naruto used the time to grab the barrel and quickly opened. Inside, Sakura lay unconcious, her breathing was shallow but steady. Naruto quickly pulled her out of the barrel as Sasuke ran over to check on her.

Kimmiaro slowly rose from where he landed, the black charred soot slowly falling off of him to show his dead pale skin underneath. His dead eyes showed a bit of life as he surveyed his opponents.

"I guess i underestimated you two. But i wont make the same mistake again" Kiimaro said.

"How did you even live through that?" Sasuke said astonished.

Sasuke took a defensive stance and looked over at Naruto and nodded. Naruto formed the hand sign and pured chakra into the jutsu.

Kage Bushin no jutsu

This time a hundred shadow clones poofed into existance. Sasuke readied his sharingan. Readying himself for the assault that the sound nin elite was going to launch at him. Kimmiaro knew that this was going to be a real fight and he would not let his lord down.


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own Naruto and i don't pretend to.

Darius is my own creation and belongs to me.

**Chapter 13: Fight for your Life**

Neji barely dodged the precise shot aimed at him, spinning and curling around the chakra blow as it passed by him. Quickly recovering, he blocked the low kick and then the incoming sweep that followed it. Kyou was not lying. He knew how to fight against the jukken form. Every shot was precise but even being able to be aware of the ability to see specific parts of the body didn't give him the precision to control and stop the damage he should be doing to his tensu points.

A quick set of blows and kicks and the 2 of them parted and circled one another slowly. Neji was visibly panting. Kyou was exerting himself but he was not as winded as neji. In fact he stopped of ra moment and Neji shot forward, striking Kyou in the chest at the area of where the heart was. Kyou recoiled back a few steps and then his head rose and stared at Neji's face, placing his fist with in an inch of his opponent.

"And that was your arrogance giving me exactly what i thought you would do, hyuuga scum" Kyou told him

1 INCH PUNCH!

The force of the blow sent Neji back. He sailed 15 feet back through the air before contacting the ground and rolling end over end before coming to a painful stop. Several of his ribs were broken and he could feel the muscles around his diaphragm were torn by the punch.

He weekly rose to his feet, the damage had been done. Kyou was standing, his arrogant smugness was driving Neji crazy. How could he do this to him. He was a branch member and recognized as the most powerful at that. Only Hinata had ever given him this much trouble.

"Wondering how you can't even touch me, its quite simple. I anticipated your stale martial art. Theres nothing dynamic about it. Its rigid and unchanging. Static. Doomed to face extinction. So it was easy to come up with a counter. And since your going to die here I will show you why that thought keeps going through your mind ", Kyou was telling him.

He pulled the gia off and showed him. Neji saw blackened thin metal plates lining his body. But even armor wouldn't stop the chakra from hitting his points.

"This is no ordinary armor, it channels chakra and when combined with my cursed seal, i can turn everything you throw against me back at you. It stores your chakra up so i can release it in large bursts. Now you see the stupidity of the hyuuga, don't you. "Kyou continued to berate Neji, slowly walking forward, "And now you see why you will die".

Neji weakly drew in ragged breathes. A rib was compressing a lug, making it hard and painful to breathe. He weakly defended against a few blows, not stopping nay, as Kyou hit him in several key areas that weren't lethal but caused tremendous pain.

"Yes, feel the pain you scum" Kyou said.

The blows hit Neji over and over. His head jerked back. Be doubled over as they hit im in the stomach. He staggered back a few steps as they stopped. His thoughts kept turning back to his match and the reality of what being cruel meant. How wrong it was. He coughed blood out of his mouth. His vision was beginning to blur in and out. Time wasn't on his side but he he knew his opening wouldn't come until the end.

Neji was backed against a tree. There was no where else to go, no more ground to give to his opponent. Kyou just laughed, recognizing the fact that his opponent was done. He was reeling from the damage and he could see the rib pressing against his lung.

"_oh the glorious pain this fool is in."_ Kyou thought. _"Still he was only a branch member, that girl hinata was his true goal."_

"I think you have suffered enough. Branch members are only the lap dogs and do as they are told. SO i wont be too cruel any longer. The main branch is who deserves our hate brother." Kyou told Neji.

"Your wrong Kyou. We may be caged birds that serve our master but i have something that you don't. And tis something that you will never find in Orochimaru. Faith" Neji retorted.

"Pfft, false faith at that. No more talk little hyuuga, im going to free you now." Kyou coldly said

Neji threw a weak blow that Kyou easily caught. He raised his arm back, focusing the chakra into the armor and brought it down with ahs much force as he could. But Neji managed to slip out of his grasp, his wrist dislocating due tot he break he had suffered from fighting hinata. Kyou's fist hit the tree and sunk deep into the trunk until his entire forearm was lodged in the tree.

Using the ground for leverage with his good arm, Neji used all the strength he had to kick up into his opponents stuck arm. The force hit and broke the arm at the elbow causing immense pain in Kyou who struggled in agony as he could not move his arm, broken and stuck in the tree.

Neji rolled out and behind his opponent. He was running on only sheer will now. His vision blurred but his target was in front of him. He had his opponent and the pain that he felt was not going to stop him.

"And now brother, this hyuuga will show you what happens to those that threaten his family" Neji told the injured man.

8 TRIGRAMS: 64 PALMS!!!

Neji blurred as he increased his speed, running through he motions that were memorized to him. Each blow as striking the tenku points but from behind, where Kyou didn't have his chakra armor. The points closed and Neji was still blurring through the hits, beyond the 64 strikes. He was re striking the points he hit with more and more chakra until the 128th hit caused Kyou's entire chakra network to explode, sending blood and gore out from his body and onto the tree in front of him.

Neji wobbled, walking away from his fallen opponent. He grasped his wrist as he walked away.

"_Thank you Hinata, you showed me. Thank you......"_ he thought.

Neji collapsed a few yards from his opponent, who was still hanging limply from a tree, his breathing was labored, the jutsu move had caused it to puncture the ling and he felt the gurgling starting to bubble up.

"Neji!" her voice called out.

Hinata ran over to her cousin who was lying on the ground. She paid no attention to the gruesome sit a few yards from her, as she knelt down next to her cousin. She could see the damage that had been caused by the fight. The rib was killing him.

"Hinata.... thank you" Neji said weakly. "you were never weak.... don't let anyone... tell you that... you have always been...."neji spoke softly, his breathing becoming more labored" Naruto was right.... you... are strong.... i was... so wrong.."

"shhhh, don't talk Neji,,,, please... you have to try and not move" Hinata said as a squad of Anbu broke into the area, Shizune in tow.

Shizune ran over to Hinata and Neji, she shivered as she passed the body hanging from the tree. She looked at Hinata as she knelt next to Neji.

"Here... hurry, the ribs puncturing his lung", Hianta told Shizune.

Shizune felt around and suddenly her face turned grim.

"Get him tot he hospital at once now!!!" shizune barked at the anbu.

Hinata looked over at neji who looked at her and a small almost imperceptible smile came to Neji's face.

"Help them Hinata... you ..cough... are strong enough" he said softly to her as an anbu team leapt off with Neji into the trees.

Hinata watched as they disappeared and Shizune and the remaining anbu looked over at her. Hinata turned and activated her byakugan to search for the others.

**Elsewhere:**

Shikamaru ducked another hail of shurikens aimed at him just in time. This guy was such a drag in his opinion but he had to be serious if he was going to be victorious in the fight. The guy was pure logic and he knew he could use that against his opponent. In the next dense expanse of trees, he found his chance.

Armstrong smashed another tree down but his opponent was just one step ahead of him every time. Armstrong would not comprehend how this inferior organic could be superior to his logical thinking. Still, the organic didn't think too far ahead. The blood trail lead him to the Nara with ease.

He quickly rounded the next set of trees and found the blood trail as gone. Armstrong scanned the trees and found the tree with blood trail that lead up a tree that held the most cover. He stopped and stared for a moment, calculating the most probable location of his opponent before unleashing a devastating barrage of shurikens at the spot, tearing the cover to splinters before he stopped to examine the destruction for his target.

Shikamaru waited for his chance. He heard the little monster whirl around and hit the tree with a storm of shurikens, the grinding sound slowly coming to a halt before Shikamru executed his plan.

He exploded out of a natural depression in the ground from behind a camouflage cloak. Armstrong was a mere few feet away. The kunai he brandished, he aimed for a join in the arm of the shuriken catapult and logged it in deeply. Armstrong quickly reacted swinging his free arm around and barely missing Shikamaru before he jumped away leaving the kunai dug into the automaton's joint.

"Action: illogical. Damage: superficial" Armstrong explained in its typical emotionless voice.

"Oh, i think its going to be a lot worse" Shikamaru said before he slipped behind the nearest tree.

A second later the kunai he had dug into the automaton's arm exploded, separating the joints and arm at the shoulder area in a spray of sparks and metal. The automaton teetered and then fell, crashing onto its side.

"Unit Damaged. Initiating Phase 2 directive." Armstrong plainly stated.

The arm he had just blown off suddenly began to reform on the automatons arm and the little man grew much bigger. The gia ripped and the mans face distorted into something completely inhuman. It eyes glowed an angry orange color.

"Phase 2 Directive complete. Now you annoying little punk, i'm gonna show you exactly what your ass looks like when i break your spine in two with my cold metal hands!" Armstrong said, no longer the logical automaton he had been.

Armstrong reached out and uprooted a 30 foot ash tree and swung it in a huge arc at Shikamaru. Caught in a daze by what the big hulking creature just did, Shikamaru didn't react in time before he was struck. Rolling with the blow, he managed to leap off the tree as the monstrosity slammed it into another ash tree completely splintering the other tree and shearing the top off the one he was using.

FLAME CANNON!!!

A jet of fire flew out and just missed Shikamaru , setting a few trees behind him ablaze. The heat singed his eye brows and sweat beaded on his forehead in a few seconds of exposure. He threw a quick kunai fitted with an explosive tag, striking at the knee of the automaton and lodging it perfectly in another joint. The explosion thundered into the forest covering the machine with smoke.

But it emerged with little damage this time. The joints looked reinforced and much stronger suddenly. He had to retreat but the fire and smoke made it difficult to get a proper baring. The monstrosity raised and arm and shot small marble like pellets at him. He rolled back but the pellets suddenly exploded in mid air and foam engulfed his legs as he finished his roll. The foam expanded and hardened fast immobolizing him and left him at the mercy of the soulless automaton.

Armstrong reached out and picked up his adversary.

"HAHAGHA...like a nara could stand a chance to beat me. You punks are too lazy and unskilled to fight a cyborg like me. Those shadow jutsu's are just parlor tricks when compared to what Orochimaru can do. Too bad for you, cause now i'm gonna kill you. Hahahahahah!!!!" Armstrong cackled with a strange creepy joyous tone in his voice.

Fuuton: Slicing Winds!

The winds sliced through the arm holding up Shikamaru sending him crashing down onto the ground. Armstrong looked down at the severed arm as Shikamaru freed himself from the iron grasp of the cyborgs arm. Looking up and over, he saw two people standing 10 yards from him. A woman, tall and strong looking, clothed in a black kimono and a huge iron fan in front of her. The other was a pugy looking man with lines painted on his face and a strange object slung on his back.

"tsk, tsk, Shikamaru, is this where your laziness has gotten you. That trash can beat you so easily..." Temari began.

Armstrong raised his good arm and aimed it at the pair with a crazed look. He always appreciated more targets to feed his blood lust.

FLAME CANNON!!

Jets of fire erupted from the arm and the area it was aimed at erupted in a hateful blaze. Trees crackled under the stream of fire. The blaze caused pine cones on the trees to suddenly burst from the heat. Shikamaru could only watch from his prone position as he made his way to safety.

Armstrong turned to face his opponent and stared into the black blank eyes of an iron puppet. Its rigid vaguely human features looked rather unnerving to Shikamaru as it suddenly burst into two pieces. And rushed to engulf the cyborg.

"Oh, this is too funny, something something so inferior to me to try and destroy me... should i cry and beg for mercy from the mighty puppet master?" Armstrong cackled.

The puppet moved to engulf him but Armstrong caught the puppet with his one arm and flung it to the ground and sidestepped the other half of the puppet. With a mighty throw he flung the puppet away and high into the air. The puppet sailed up and out of the tree line.

"Target Practice!" Armstrong screamed in joy.

CHAKRA CANNON!!!

Armstrongs arm extended and grew round and barrel like. Lightning hissed in front of the hole as it gathered the chakra on the end. It was during this time that Temari Dropped behind the massive cyborg, unfurling her giant iron fan and slammed it around and up knocking the cyborg of its feet and a few feet on the air.

"AH, you call that a shot" Armstrong yelled. He began to right himself and the cannon began to come around, the essence gathered and aiming at Temari now. Several Kunai hit the other arm and exploded , the cannon blowing itself to pieces leaving the cyborg un armed. Shikamaru pulled out several more kunai and was fitting explosive tags as temari unfurled her fan and continuing around in a swift motion, unleashed the jutsu she had built into her fan.

Fuuton: Grand Wind Storm!

The cyborg had reached the apex as the dins hit and drove it high in the sky, up towards where Iron Ant was coming down. The puppet shut tight around the cyborg and engulfed it, followed quickly by the the other half, completing the puppets form. Eight swords slammed through he holes in the puppet as it crashed into the ground. A sick black ooze flowed freely from the holes in the puppet.

"Guess he wont be making fun of my puppets again" Kanakuro said.

"Well, arent you troublesome Shikamaru... Why didn't you just put some effort into it?" Temari ribbed shikamaru.

"Whatever, your still troublesome" Shikamaru said lazily" And thanks you two."

The two sand nins picked up their injured friend as he hobbled on his injured leg and began to make their way back towards the Kohona.

"_Sorry Sasuke, this is as far as i can go_. Good luck" Shikamaru thought.

**Elsewhere**

Darius was patiently waiting buried a few feet below listening to dead silence above him. Tehre had been no sound, no noise, no movement and the sweat was beading in his hands. He was awaiting for his chance but this woman was deadly smart and knew a lot about him. Too much it seemed.

"_She could know about my past.... but i can't risk it"_ darius thought.

He heard the clone above him scuffle and roll, followed by the sounds of steel hitting steel. He clenched the cylinder inhis hands, waiting for his chance to spring. He only had 1 shot with this. If he died, Ino would never forgive him.

"My, my, my, a shadow clone... tsk tsk... that wasn't the wisest of jutsus to use against me you know" Ebony said above him. "After all, its composed of darkness, and i am a mistress of darkness. Its what my master does best, corrupt the living to do his will. So this little puppet isnt really yours anymore, its mine."

Ebony reached down and her hand grabbed darius by the neck and hauled him up through the ground. The rock gave way easily as she effortlessly slammed his body against the tree next to his clone. The two fo them look dismayed as the woman was mere inches from his face. She had those souless eyes locked on him, the real him. With a flick of her wrist she crushed the clones neck and it disappeared into smoke leaving darius alone.

The cylinder dropped from his hand and rolled away from him as he struggled against her strength. He could fell her tightening her grip on his neck. Her dank hot bbreath assaulted his senses.

"This, this is all you have... my master says you will be more than a handful for even me and this is the struggle you give me", Ebony said with incredoulence." I surely expected a serious challenge, something that would make me even break a sweat. But you can't even give me that. Oh, the wound you gave me is painful and a beautiful reminder of what it menas to never let your guard down."

He continued to struggle... but the more he fought, the less strength he felt he had. His shoulder was suddenly burning hot as the woman slammed a dark dagger through his shoulder. It burned and the burning spread through him.

"Poison?" was all darius meeked out.

"Oh no this isn't poison, this is the corruption i was telling you about. The dagger is a special gift from my master to use on just little old you." The woman boasted.

"Why..why would Orochimaru want to torture me....?" Darius asked feeling his strength ebbing.

"Orochimaru? Who said orochimaru is my master. He is merely a pawn for the true master... little light container. Orochimaru in truth serves my master. Tho i think he expects to get more and try to turn the deal to his favor in the end with that friend of yours. The sharingan is truly spectacular and it holds certain qualities that my maser respects." Ebony told him. "But you... your a real thorn in his side. And you have no idea why do you."

The woman turned the dagger to make it hurt more and darius squirmed unde rher torturous devices. Her face seemed to grow darker with the despair and agony she caused, relishing in the feeling.

"Oh, what my master will give me knowing that you are finally out of his way!" Ebony boasted still. "But i think i can prolong this more, since that joyous emotion of pain and suffering is so wonderful."

Suddenly Darius began to feel cold. The strength he had left was draining away. He glanced around desperately looking for anything to help him. He could see the cylinder just a few feet away. It was his last chance. His hands fumbled in his pouch, and he found what he was looking for.

**Elsewhere**

Kimmiaro was already using his first level of his cursed seal. Using his sharingan, Sasuke was holding out and using hit an run tactics on the bone user. Kimmiaro was shooting the bones out of his body at Naruto and Sasuke. About Naruto was using his clones to shield his friend, while a clone was running Sakura back to Kohona.

CHIDORI!

Sasuke looked at Naruto who read what Sasuke was doing.

Kage Bushin No Jutsu!!

A hundred more narutos appears and Naruto surrounded Sasuke with half the Clones.

Henge!

The clones turned into exact copies of sasuke and they charged out at Kimmiaro. Kimmiaro recognized the problem. Naruto made perfect copies and he could not tell them apart. And now the uchiha was charging Kimmmiaro from a direction he couldn't tell. Bone armor started to cover his body as he readied himself to deflect the strike.

Elsewhere Sakura was beginning to wake up as Naruto was jumping through the forest. She slowly looked around, seeing the trees flying by. The recollection of what had transpired suddenly dawned on her and she drew her kunai and pressed to to Naruto's throat.

"HEY! Easy Sakura, i was just trying to get you out of the way.... this is a clone" Nartuo told her.

"What happened? Where is Sasuke??? Who were those people!? Answer me Baka!" Sakura demanded

"They are back fighting off the guy that took you. We were just trying to get you away from these guys Sakura." Naruto told her.

Sakura didnt want to leave. She was a ninja like everyone else. And she wouldn't let them fight alone. She wouldn't loose Sasuke now that she just got him for herself.

Sakura slipped out of the clones grasp and landed on a nearby tree and bounded back towards the fight. The clone landed and turned to pursue. But it disappeared in a puff of smoke as chakra charged scalpels embedded in its back.

From out of nearby tree Kabuto swiftly and agilely swung down. He watched as Saukra jumped through the trees back to the fight. Smiling and adjusting his glasses, Kabuto left shadowing Sakura.

Sasuke's chidori hit and Kimmiaro groaned with pain as the lightning surged through his body. He bone armor offered little protection from the strike. Sasuke smiled triumphantly before Kimmiaro shot several bone spears out from his body, which sasuke just narrowly avoided, leaving scraps and cuts. Frustration was building in Kimmiaro, his adversaries just wouldn't quit.

Naruto suddenly got hit with the information from his clone. He glanced around and back from where the clone was.

"Sasuke, Kabutos around here and hes chasing Sakura. He got my clone!" Naruto told him.

"Finish this guy of nartuo, i need to get to sakura, "Sasuke told him.

But Kimmiaro was not about to let his opponents go. He advanced his curse seal to the next level and pulled the very spine out of his back in a gruesome display. It grew long and flexible. With his other arm he grew a great pointed spike of bone out of his arm.

The bone whip lashed out and caught sasuke as he tried to run to find Sakura. With his free spike arm, he shot a shot barrage of bone needles at naruto, striking him several times in the arm and leg as he dove from the barrage.

"GAHH! "Naruto yelled as he dug out a bone fragment.

Sasuke continued to wiggle and fight aginst the bone whip that was wrapped around him... Fortunately, he saw the Kimmaro was using his injured side that he hit with his chodori earlier. Crimson blood still flowed from the wound. Leaning back for a moment sasuke twisted the bone at an odd angel and pulled at the wound the Kimmiaro bore, stretching and tearing it open further, causing him to wince in pain. His hand trembled and then let go of the bone whip, grasping the arm in pain.

Sakura watched from the tree line. The big pale man had given the two shinobi a run for their miney but sasuke and naruto were working well together and the team work showed. Neither of them would have been a match for the monster but together they were bringing him down.

"Sasuke certainly does have an extraordinary ability doesnt he" A voice said behind her.

Kabuto came around from behind a tree branch a few yards from her. Beside him, was a heavily bandaged man. The eyes were what sakura remembered the most. Those evil snake like eyes that sakura remembered from the exams. Orochimaru.

"my my, what ever does the dear boy see in you." Orochimaru laughed.

A scream of sheer agony echoed through the forest. The pain of the tortured soul was apparent as it waned and then came back with more force.

Kimmiaro, Sasuke and Naruto stopped their battle and looked in the direction of the scream for a moment. The sound hit nerves in all three of them, evoking different memories in them. Sakura shuddered. She felt like the voice was familiar to her. Kabuto and Orochimaru simply looked at one another and grinned evilly. Hianta stopped and ino caught up to her. Ino recognized the voice. Hinata saw what was happening.

"Hinata, I will help him, you need to go and keep your promise to Sasuke and Naruto. Help them Save Sakura" Ino told her as Ino quickly diverged to race to Darius.

Hinata stopped, watching Darius for a moment before she turned to move towards Where she saw the groups ahead. Sakura was in trouble.

Kimmiaro Began to move through the seals as he preapred to end the fight but his terminal illness had run too long. He had spent too much time in his cursed seal and the strain had broken his body. Sollapsing in front of the two, Kimmiaro thought of how he had failed his lord and master.

"_Orochimaru, i have failed"_ Kimmaro thought at the end before his body went limp and cold. Sasuke and Naruto looked awed at each other for a few moments at the sight of what had happened. Sasukes thoughts turned to sakura.

**Elsewhere with Darius:**

The pain was mind numbing, such horrible pain drove screams out of him that he could not control. Screams echoed far out into the forest. Reverbertating. His hand was trembling as he strove to keep hold of the item in the pouch, but he dropped it, the hand reaching for the dagger in his shoulder. Something akin to be ate alive slowly on the inside.

"Scream YES Scream!!! I want to hear more!" Ebony told him.

She raised her head in reverie and lost her self in the scream The torment was so wonderful, brought such evil and sorrow. She couldn't help but marvel at her masters power.

Darius somehow lashed out striking the woman down and away from him stunning her. She blinked for a moment before rising to her feet. Darius was in front of her with the cylindrical glass object in his hand and shattered it, his eyes closed tight while she stared into it.

The Light exploded like she was staring into the sun. Many times brighter, the flare exploded, the chemical reaction literally blinding the woman into darkness as the light burned out all her optical nerves in a split second. She screamed and writhed in pain on the ground. She could not believe the pain the light brought her.

Darius feebly;y reached out for his weapon, his hands trembling as he grasped the cold steel in his hands. He brought it up and the pain shot through his arm. His body was cold, his skin was pale white and now starting to go completely black, like the darkness was chewing him up from the inside.

"DEATH IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU.... BUT DEATH IS WHAT YOU WILL GET YOU INSGINIFACANT WORM...!!!!" Ebony screamed as she lashed out with dark tendrils that had a life of their own.

Unable to move, he watched as the dark tendrils rise up and dive at him, steeling themselves as they moved in to strike him in the heart.

A flash of rainbow steel and the tendrils were cut to ribbons. Ino's saber raked through them with wind infused chakra. A roll, she struck the woman with the guard of the rapier, sending her crashing to the ground. Using the distraction, Ino picked Darius up and took him away as the woman lashed in random directions with her tendrils.

Examining her boyfriend, she found a single deep knife wound in his shoulder and deep shuriken strikes on his leg. She couldn't stop tho, she had to take care of the blinded adversary.

She left darius against a distant tree and ran over to the woman who whirled around to face her, hearing the approach that Ino brought, She readied her jutsu, and a hundred tendrils rose to meet her adversary before a split second later, Ino's rapier was slammed through the womans chest from behind. The woman convulsed... the tendrils slowly sunk to the ground as the shock of what happened took hold. Ino's Psychic jutsu had worked and fooled the womans other senses. The shock of losing was the last thing the woman thought and said.

"Master... I am not worthy" Ebony said as she died and slowly slide off of Ino's rapier and to the ground.

Her body convulsed one last time before the dark skin dissolved into the air in a dark black mist and then slowly burned away in the light. Left behind was a husk of a woman, ancient and dessicated. A moment later and the body turned to dust, leaving no trace of the opponent that was just vanquished.

"Ino...." Darius said weakly.

"Darius!" Ino exclaimed nad ran over to him as he lay against the tree where she put him.

Darius was no longer trembling. As she touched him, she could feel the ice chillign cold running through his entire body. Dark lines radiated from the wound and out, covering almost his entire body and nearing his heart.

"Not ... she... not poison...something else ... Ino...so ... cold....." Darius said.

His breathing shallowed as he looked up at her, an the life in his green eyes grew dim.

"No" Ino told him as she cried with him in her arms, "Fight Darius, don't go please. I love you."


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own Naruto and i don't pretend to.

Darius is my own creation and belongs to me.

**Chapter 14: Fighting for Control**

Sasuke and Naruto leapt into the trees to look for Sakura. Kimmiaro lay dead behind them, dying of some illness that took him at the last second. Sasuke glanced back at the body for a moment.

"Would that have happened to me?" Sasuke thought.

They had barely gone into the tree line before they found Sakura staring at two individuals. A tall man in his late twenties in a puirple vest and loose pants with white hair and a heavily bandaged man in a light tan coat.

Sasukes face suddenly grew horrified. The eyes, Those were his eyes, the same eyes he had seen in the exams. The ones that had taunted him after giving him the mark. Orochimaru.

Naruto had the same look. He remembered what he did to his friends. Sasuke, Darius, Now he was going after Sakura. That was 3 friends too many.

Sasuke landed next to Sakura and took his usual superior stance as he faced Orochimaru and Kabuto. Naruto was nearby on a separate tree branch, just a little lower than his friends as he glared at the pair who stood nonchalantly.

Kabuto shot out at Sakura, hurling scaplels at the pair. Sasuke and Sakura flicked and managed to doge them with little trouble landing a few branches up. With some agility Kabuto grabbed a branch and flung him self up with surprising speed, clipping Sasuke who realized not to underestimate the white haired man. Kabuto was beginning to right himself and landing on a branch when Sakura threw several kunais at him.

Kabuto smirked as he easily parried the small barrage and threw them back. At Sakura. A quick set of seals and the kunai hit a log, Sakura hiding nearby.

The distraction was enough as Sauke was in position. He hit Kabuto off his guard, swept his leg and axe kicked him into the ground while dodging the chakra scalpel counter that Kabuto threw. Spiraling around, Sasuke went through a quick set of hand seals.

Kaiton: RISING PHOENIX TECHNIQUE.

Fireballs shot out and hit Kabuto as he fell shooting him further down into the ground with a dull thud as the last of the fireballs exploded. As the smoke cleared, there was nothing but a puff of smoke. Kabuto had used a Shadow clone.

Orochimaru clapped with amusement at the spectacle. Sakura remained in her hiding spot as Sasuke landed on a branch nearby. He glared at the Sannin who had watched the spectacle. Orochimaru clapped as he turned his gaze to the three that impressed him. They were definitely much better than the last time he had seen them in the forest of death.

"kukukuku, my my, don't we have a little gathering here, it almost seems reminiscent of a gathering we had in the past." Orochimaru said " but we seem to have an extra guest now don't we. The little Demon boy. Where are your little friends. The boy with the light who can scream with such agony and pain. Why that last scream of his was just glorious wasn't it. It echoed through the forest so well"

Orochimaru sneered. He was trying to anger Naruto and it was visibly beginning to work. Naruto was already trembling and he was beginning to feel the hate and anger build up in him. His eyes were beginning to fade from their blueish color to a more dull red.

**Yes monkey, you hate him so much. He doesn't deserve to live.**

"And where is the little pale hyugga girl. Oh I liked her. I'm sure she could provide so much entertainment." Orochimaru continued. "And her eyes would make such nice additions since Kyou already had his sealed away."

**Now he wants your mate. He's so evil wouldn't this world be better off without him.**

Naruto fought off the fox's comments. He knew the fox wanted control and Naruto wasn't about to let him have it.

"And what about the ninja's and people you sent here. They fought for you and died for you! Don't you even care the loyalty they gave to you, you snake freak!" Naruto yelled back. "That guy back there believed in you so much that he didn't care that he was dying when he fought us. And how is his sacrifice going to be repaid??"

Inside naruto, the red eyes squinted and became enraged and hateful from behind the cage. No longer was the fox struggling against its cage.

Orochimaru and Kabuto merely chuckled a bit.

"My dear demon, his purpose has been fulfilled. He gave his existence to me, to bring me closer to ever lasting life. He has brought to me exactly what I wanted. He died as he wanted to, serving his lord and master. What more can a ninja want?" Orochimaru said with indiffernce in his voice.

**Such dishonor. I want to kill him so much kit. I know you do to. Use my power and crush him kit.**

"And now I have exactly what I want here. Come Sasuke, lets go and start Your new training. I have so many new and powerful things to teach you. So much to show you so you can fulfill that one purpose you have, to kill Itachi Uchia" Orochimaru said.

"Pfft, whatever. Come on Sakura. Naruto. We are leaving the freak and his boyfriend behind" Sasuke said in an annoyed tone.

Orochimaru was put back a step. The boy refused him. Mocked him. The act had actually made Orochimaru angry. This boy.... was definitely worth it in Orochimaru's eyes. But he wouldn't be leaving, he would be coming with them, whether or not he wanted to. Orochimaru quickly made a seal and activated the mark on the boys back.

"Now the fool will come with me...kukuku" Orochimaru evilly thought.

But the three of them disappeared into the forest and back towards the Valley of Ends. Sasuke made no reaction, for there was none to be had. The pair stood dumbfounded.

"The boy was marked.... interesting, Something removed the mark I placed on him Kabuto." Orochiamru said

Orochimaru glared at the direction the three disappeared to. He formulated his next strategy and knew that Sasuke had just chosen the hard way..

"Come Kabuto, it appears we will be using the alternate plan." Orochimaru said as he quickly made after the pair.

Kabuto smiled. _ "Best make sure the preparations will all be ready"_ He thought as he disappeared into the forest.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura flew out of the tree line an made their way out to the water crossing just in front of the two statues. The Valley of Ends, where the First hokage fought against Madara Uchia for Hokage. Legends said that the valley was carved out by the power of all the tailed beasts.

The three of them began crossing the water, hoping to put the incident behind them. Sasuke was in front, his head was slowly scannign from side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of the others. Sakura was lost in her thoughts, looking down as they crossed the water. Naruto was feeling nervous and uneasy. The words that Orochimaru had said to him were still bouncing around his mind.

They reached the other side Sasuke reaching down to offer his hand. Sakura only sadly looked up at her boyfriend. She seemed to be troubled inhis eyes.

"Sakura, we need you to focus more on now, not what happened ok" Sasuke said to her.

She reached out and sasuke lifted her up and onto the bank. Giving her hand a soft kiss before he reached down to help naruto up. Naruto smirked as he took Sasuke's hand and was pulled up onto the bank.

"Your not going to kiss my hand are you sasuke?" naruto joked.

"pfft, whatever dobe" Sasuke said back, only slightly annoyed.

Naruto stopped and sat down for a minute. He was physically exhausted. That last battle had taken a lot out of him and they only won by dumb luck. Still, luck was an important part of battle too. Not to mention the war with his emotions with Orochimaru. He really hated that snake freak.

Hinata burst out of the treeline to see the three against the statue of the first hokage resting. She ran straight for naruto as fast as her feet would take her. Sasuke nudged Naruto who turned barely in time before Hinata ran full bore into him, knocking Naruto off his feet and onto his back.

"Naruto kun, I was so worried about you!" Hinata said, not realizing she didn't stutter just once.

"Hey ouch, Hinata, I'm fine, I told you we would get Sakura back" naruto explained to the young woman squeezing the breathe out of him." Hianta... not so tight... your making it hard to breathe and I think I bruised something there."

Hianta eeped and let go of Naruto and then the realization hit. She had hugged Naruto, with Sasuke and Sakura watching. Her face turned deep red as she could not find the strength to release him now.

"Ok, easy up now... Hianta, oh my god, are you getting sick or something, your turning red again..." Naruto asked in concern.

She stopped and let go of her bone crushing hug before she looked down and started to apologize to  
Naruto. She kept her eyes shut tightly to avoid eye contact with his deep blue eyes. She knew she wouldn't have the strength to stand if she caught sight of his eyes.

"Im, g-gald you are safe n-now Sakura. We all were wor-worried" Hinata started.

"Thank you Hinata, I'm glad you guys didn't get hurt because...."Sakura started to say.

Sakura saw a familiar figure walking out from the treeline just where they were headed. She expected to see everyone else come but she suddenly grew afraid and her teal eyes grew wide. They all turned to see what Sakura was looking at.

From the nearby tree line, Ino stumbled out carrying a limp body with her. She was staggering a bit as the body was definitely heavier than she would normally be able to lift. She had the body slung over her shoulder as she fought to carry the weight of the limp man forward towards the group head. Even from this distance, they all could hear the sobs of sorrow coming from her. Uncontrollable as she struggled forward, her legs wobbling and giving out from under her. The four of them ran over to her as she collapsed to the ground.

Ino could say nothing except cry. Naruto and Sasuke turned the body over. The matted and bloody hair were little the dark locks of gold. His clothes still the same color. His skin was pale and covered in dark lines all over except his heart. A deep wound in his shoulder still oozed his blood onto the ground in a slow stream. Around his neck, hung the familiar medallion they all knew Covering the heart. This was their friend and from the looks of it, Darius was dead. His eyes were closed and his body showed no sign of life in it.

Byakugan!

Hinata looked at her friend and found darkness shooting through his chakra network. His body was covered in nothing but black inky darkness except over his heart. A small dim light still shown, the darkness that had spread over his body fighting to extinguish the last of the radiance left in their friend.

"Darius, hey, Darius, Come on, wake up!!!!" Naruto yelled.

Hinata could only watch in fear as the light dimmed and surged, fighting back the darkness that sought to consume it. Ino's hand moved to Darius's limp hand and sobbed as she took it. It was cold and covered in the dark lines. She brought it up to her tear covered face and gently kissed it. Holding it to her lips as she broke down, falling over him and covering his body. What ever strength she had left caused her to slip into unconsciousness.

The distraction was enough to keep them all from noticing the 100 foot long snake diving at them. Atop the snake was Orochimaru, who through himself and the snake at the group barely missing Ino and Darius by a foot as the others scattered. The snake towered over the two for a moment before Sakura came flying in and hit the snake with a strength enhanced punch causing the snake to shift to one side. The snake hissed and turned to chase Sakura.

Sakura dodged and barely missed being swallowed as Orochimaru commanded it to one side. The snake slapped her to one side, sending her dangerously close to the ledge, her foot slipping over. The snake moved around and charged at Sakura before Sasuke manged to pull her over and on to a ledge, the snake flying over the edge and down over the cliff.

Orochimaru jumped off and landed on ledge near them. Sasuke engaged him but was over whelmed with the ferocity of the blows and Sakura could not effectively attack, the ledge being so thin. Hinata reached down and Sakura grabbed onto her arm and was swung up and onto the top. Continuing to sweep around, she saw the snake working its way up.

"Naruto the snake!" Hianta cried.

She was suddenly meet with a mass of Naruto's which began jumping off the cliff and down at the snake in a cannonball style move. Hianta looked on horrified as her Naruto kept jumping over and over again.

UZAMAKI DEATH FROM ABOVE!!!

Dozens of narutos began falling down on the massive snake, hammering it over and over with a barrage of drop kicks, punches. The snake squirmed and swallowed a few but more kept careening down at it. A final Naruto fell and the remaining Naruto's hit and grabbed on to the snake, and Exploded, sending a thunder clap echoing through the Valley.

The rock shook and Orochimaru and Sasuke on the ledge lost their footing Hianta who had been on the ledge, slipped over taking Sakura with her. The five fell and Sasuke and Orochimaru righted them selves on the cliff and began running down. Hinata and Sakura followed suit as a dull thud echoed the sign of the snake striking the rock bank below.

Nearby, the huge snake lay dead, covered in iqor and gore, its head hanging at an odd angle and its eyes lifeless.

The four righted hit the ground and launched them selves at Oroichimaru. Hinata and Sakura flanked their opponent who, wriggled and dipped more agile than Hianta. Sasuke kept up a frontal assault, as Orochimaru began to grow frustrated and quickly drew The Kusangi and slashed in a large sweeping arc. Catching Sakura in the arm, Hianta in the leg and stopped suddenly as Sasuke blocked with his kunai.

Orochimaru grew angry and began pressing his attack but Sasuke began seeing everything the snake sannin was throwing. The moves became clearer and could easily anticipate and block his opponents assault. The tomes in his sharingan eyes slowly turned and three tomes were present. Sasuke waited until he had Orochimaru where he wanted him.

The girls moved and Sasuke smirked at Orochimaru.

"Arrogant and so full of your self, what aren't you going to try and bite me again, snake freak?" Sasuke taunted.

Sasuke was taunting him and Orochimaru suddenly became a ware that he could always remark his adversary. His neck grew long and snake like and he quickly lashed out at Sasuke with blinding speed. , the venom ooaing off of his exposed fangs as he came down.

Sakura was a half a second too fast this time, her chakra enhanced punch nailing Orochimaru across the face, break a fang as she speed past. Sasuke Reaching out slung the snake sannin into a headlock was sakura heel kicked orochimaru on his wrist, breaking it with a satisfying crunch. Orochimaru slinched and wiggled but Sasuke had him by the back of his head at a pivot point, preventing the snake from freeing it self. Hinata came rushing in and took her juuken stance and in an instant unleashed the 64 palm strike, cutting off the snakes chakra flow. As she twirled out, she heel kicked the Kusagani away and over by the dead snake, where sakura kicked it up into her hands. Sauke twisted and with a spinning back kick connected with Orochimarus snake like face and staggered the sannin back several feet back.

The sannin screamed and then grew wide eyed as naruto had a fully formed Rasengan in hand slamming down into Orochimaru who was engulfed in a swirling blue liught and driven down into the water, , a huge whirl pool forming as the four jumped back and away onto the river bank, watching as the water swirl around and slowly dissipate as the chakra expended itself.

"Thats for Darius you snake freak!!" Naruto cried out.

The others looked up at the top where their friend lay and back to where the sannin had been hit. On the other shore, a small tan figure painfully pulled itself up out of the water and onto the stoney bank. Behind them the snake poofed away and a small laugh echoed out from the sannin.

"kukukukukuk...HAHHAAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!" Orochimaru laughed.

Fumbling around, the sannin pulled out a circular object made of angry red crystal and a black dragon of onyx was set into the center. Everyone looked at the strange object and remebered, it was the exact inverse of the medallion Darius wore.

"Why... does he have the exact opposite of Sarius-sans medallion?" Hianta asked.

"Poor fools, you never did discover why i took the medallion. With the boy gone, i can complete my plan now, theres no one who is here who can stop me. In fact there will be one among who is going to help me kill the lot of you and ill pry Sasukes eyes out from his sockets before i let him die!" Orochimaru said Triumphantly. "Now, you will know the despair that will come with knowing that there is no hope left, that all your little heroics, little leaf ninjas, are just ash compared to my master!"

Orochimaru raised the medallion and began to chant a strange language. Naruto ran forward to try and stop him, followed by Sakura and Sasuke. Hianta did not move, her mind was frozen solid with fear. The others could not see it but her byakugan showed it to her. The Eyes darker than the dark of night.

"**Kit, get away...don't be anywhere near here, you have to run!!!" **

Naruto actually heard for the first time the fear in the kyubbi's voice. As he neared Orochimaru the sannin's eyes were locked on his and darkness suddenly exploded out of the medallion, and the sky turned to complete starless moonless darkness.

Kohona and the entire fire nation was suddenly covered in the inky blackness and a slowly a sound like an ever building earthquake resounded through the air. The winds grew still and the water hissed and steamed. The very earth trembled as all of world was witness to the coming.

"Behold the despair of all, the darkness that knows no bounds, the corruption that changes life into death. Behold the Dragon God, ONYX!!!"

A n immense roar that broke the stone of the statues and froze the waterfall solid exploded out from above the sannin. The four were scattered to every part of the valley, rolling and tumbling. From above the eyes glared out and down from the sky, the outline of a great dragon head moved slowly out of the sky and evilly laughed.

"Summoned to destroy i call upon you who are bound, serve your master again, show them the destiny that you were created for, destroyer of worlds, first and greatest of all calamities, come. Kyubbi no Kitsune. Come Forth and serve your master again and for all time!!!" the dragon god commanded.

Crack of thunder was heard in the background as Naruto felt the sudden shift in his chakra. The Seal glowed with an intense darkness and suddenly Naruto was before the cage but on the wrong side. On the other side, Naruto beheld that the Kyubbi was out but the outline underneath the great monster immediately brought Naruto's attention. A female of fair skin and red long hair looked out at him with pleading eyes as the Kyubbi's form was being dragged away. Naruto quickly reached out and grabbed on and suddenly two other arms reached out and grabbed on.

"Hold on to her Naruto!!! Don't let her go" the voice told him.

The form of the kyubbi shrank a bit as the arms grasped each other under the tremendous strain. A tail suddenly winked out of existence from the kyubbi's form.

Out side Naruto let out a primal scream of pain and slowly sunk down into a crouching stance. Red chakra surrounded him, forming the shape of a small fox and n angry tail of red chakra formed behind him. Long deadly claws formed from his hands and his teeth grew long and feral. His eyes were white, emotionless pupils, devoid of emotion.

"Destroy your foes Kyubbi, regain your strength and let us bring another world to ashes and countless others after this one." Onyx commanded and watched.

In a flash Narutos body shot out and assaulted the group, slashing out at Sakura and Sasuke while Hinata watched petrified from the sight. Her body would not move despite her mind screaming at her to move. Sakura tried in vain to defend her self, forcing Sasuke to shield her from thw majority of the assault, his chakra grabbing Sasuke and slamming the boy into the cliff face as Sakura defeneded herself, pleading for Naruto to stop. A hit from Naruto's chakra hand threw Sakura away into the cliff, her body bounced hard on the bank as she lay bleeding from several wounds on her head and arms and body.

"_Move, we have to help them... Naruto is being consumed by the evil. Why won't i move?"_ Hinata thought.

His eyes were upon her and her body was frozen to the ground.

"_Because young one, i will it!"_ the dragons voice reverberated in her head. _"Once the kyubbi is done with your friends, i have decided that you shall be coming back with us. I see much potential in you. I once beheld such potential in only one other, tho that one is long since dead. He foolishly refused to join me." _

Sasuke fought back with everything he had. The sharingan allowed him to defend himself to an extent but it couldn't read the unpredictable movements that the red chakra provided to the kyubbi vessel. Picking up the Kusangi, Sasuke deflected the blows the that chakra through at him. Some properties in the blade allowed him to do such things. Orochimaru marveled as the blade produced abilities he had yet to unlock himself. The Sharingan would be a formidable possession indeed.

Above the fray in the tree line Gaara was seen struggling with the demon within him. The demon was forcing the jinchurikki to actually move away from the battle. Gaara himself struggled to move closer as he heard the sounds of battle. Shakuku kept screaming to not to go near, that he would be a tool for the mighty dragon god. Gaara would not hear it and fought to move closer but neither was winning. They were rooted to their spot.

Close by Ino still lay unconscious on Darius, their hands joined on the medallion as light began to pour forth as the battle raged, engulfing the two of them. Ino's eyes flickered open for a moment and she saw only light around her. Her hand was still joined with Darius who no longer felt cold. His chest rose and fell with a great gasp and exhale. Ino suddenly shot up and looked at the face of her love.

His eyes were open but did not register her. They flickered between light and darkness. Ino wiped away her tears from her face and held his face in her free hand. He would live, he had to.

"Darius, come back, please..." she pleaded.

'yes, my name is Darius, but i can not see you.... your voice, it sounds so familiar to me... like someone important to me...the emotion is there.... but there is no memory, only feeling...So lonely here... so cold" He responded.

Ino thought to herself, "What,,, whats wrong with him." but her voice rang out instead of in her mind.

The voice responded in a chorus of heavenly music, as billions of souls sang out at once "He is not dead Ino, he is between the light and the dark, slipping back and forth between the two barriers. But he still lives Young one."

From the light came the beautiful woman of light, with the eyes of luminescent stars, dressed in flowing white elegant robes. She was tall and slender as before an walked with authority and she knelt next to the two of them and gently pulled the young woman up to a kneeling position and knelt eye level with Ino.

"I know that voice as well, where have i heard it?" Darius said.

"What is wrong with him?" Ino asked.

"Darkness has entered his soul Ino. But it was always there. The knife he was stabbed with contains an essence that corrupts the individual, turns their souls into dark and twisted monsters, weakening the souls resolve to maintain the balance and give in to ones dark self. His is a special soul. His soul contains a special resilience to this corruption but a doubt has entered his soul that allowed it to enter and begin to change him. None know what will happen if he does give in but we all agree that a great harm would be done." the woman explained as ino gripped the womans hands as she watched darius 's eyes flickered.

"But all is not lost Ino. The seed that allows this corruption is the source. If we remove the source of his doubt, then he will return back to himself. There is only one who can do this Ino. Only you can repair this damage." the woman explained lovingly stroking Inos hair as a mother would.

"How?! Whatever it is i will do it just tell me how please!" Ino pleaded.

The woman smiled and took ino's hand placing it over Darius heart.

"Let your heart tell his what you feel Ino. He only needs to hear it. It must come from where all joy comes from Ino, not from angious, not from sadness, but from the light that shines within us.

Ino gathered herself and looked into his eyes.

"Darius, i never told you how much you mean to me. From that day you were found, when i saw you walking the streets, during your visits, i know i felt a kind of conenction to you. I never knew what that was. I never knew what you meant darius. When you gave me the flower.... i still have that flower darius. I have enver let it die. It meant so much to me. "Ino was baring your soul to him.

The woman saw the glow forming between them and she rose to watch, taking a few steps away. Darius could slowly feel his memories returning and the darkness began to fade from his eys.

"After the time you saved me on the bridge, i knew it was more than just an infatuation, that we held a connection that was beyond what should be between two people darius" Ino began to tear up, but these were no longer tears of sadness, for she was baring her soul to her soulmate. "I know it in my heart darius, that i.. love you"

"Ino... INO!" Darius said as he saw her again, his joy resounding in his voice as he recognized her face and the memories came back to him.

His eyes had returned their normal green and he could see again. The pain was all gone. Ino was looking down as he lay on the floor and he reached up and embraced her, the kiss was deep and passionate.

"Oh god, i thought i was lost you darius" Ino said to him.

"I would be lost if you hadn't found me Ino. The darkness was so cold and lonely. But i heard your voice calling me back. You were the path back to light" Darius said to her.

"Now comes your choice Darius" The woman turned and looked at Darius. Her smile radiated from her face as he looked at her.

"What choice is that??? I can remember it all now, Ino , Naruto, Hinata, Kohona, everything" He told the woman.

"No Darius, not everything, for you still don't remember before Kohona. There is still a piece of you that has been lost. But your choice will not affect what you feel now or ever but the present. The past teaches how to react in the present to help us shape th future." The woman told him, the voice rang still as a chorus of angels.

"A dark one has released that which is in your friend and the Kyubbi is being drawn out of Naruto Darius as we speak." the woman told the two.

"No, Naruto!

He also has noticed that which resides also in Hinata. He wants to try to turn her to his will and it will be her undoing as well as Naruto's" she explained.

"How can i help them, we save to them!! Please, whoever you are, tell me how! They are my family." Darius pleaded.

"This choice will have consequences one way or another Darius and both you and Ino will have to live with the choice you make today." She continued to explain. "You have in you a power that still...sleeps... that which is in all ways equal to the power that Kyubbi has... limitless light to counter his limitless darkness. But you are not ready to wield this power yet. However, it is within my authority to temporarily unleash the power that sleeps and awaken it for a time. To do this tho, you will fall into a stasis like sleep that will separate the two of you for 2 years Darius. No power can wake you from this slumber but there will not be physical repercussions. Just the gap of time. But this is your decision to make."

Ino looked over at him and Darius was torn. But she knew what his heart wanted to do. And she would have the strength to endure the wait.

She reached out and stroked his hair. "I can handle this Darius. I have waited this long for you, i think a few years will be easy enough. Besides, i think the saying is, seperation will make the heart grow fonder" Ino said smiling at him.

"For our friends, for our family, for our future, i agree. Awaken the light within me for this time. And I will accept this consequence." Darius told the Great woman who extended her arms out.

Ino held his hand, "We will accept" She moved in for a final kiss. "Until 2 years Ino, my love"Darius turned to the woman as the light grew around them until only white light could be seen.

"Awaken " a singular voice was heard.


	15. Chapter 15

I do not own Naruto and i don't pretend to.

Darius is my own creation and belongs to me.

**Chapter 15 Light and Dark**

Sasuke was covered in many small cuts and bruises from the battle. The word he had used was serving him well, unlocking some parts of the kusanagi that orochimaru had been unable to use. But it was a defensive battle. Narutos red chakra was fast and hard to predict for him. On top of it all, Sasuke wasn't trying to hurt Naruto. He honestly just wanted to leave this whole mess behind him but he wouldn't let a friend or his Sakura down.

He ran across the water and parried the chakra arm as it exploded out of the water. The hand began to wrap around him, surrounding him in a red hateful chakra. The hand gripped him in a tight hold, and flung him towards the cliff wall, attempting to crush him into eh hard unforgiving rock. Struggling he manages to bring the Kusanagi up and into the hand, disrupting the chakra form and cut himself free, skidding along the water as he jumped free and up onto the bank before he stopped. A quick side step barely allowed him time to dodge the red steak as Naruto shot past him and struck the cliff wall crushing a good portion of it the the force of his blow.

"Naruto, snap out of it!" Sasuke yelled, parrying another furious assault from the chakra. "Damn it, Hinata, help me, do something just don't stand there!"

Orochimaru stood on the far bank, the angry red medallion still hung around his neck. The power that the god displayed was awe inspiring, even to the sannin. But Sasuke fought on nearly equal terms if not greater terms than the kyubbi container. The fact that Sasuke was not trying to kill the boy spoke volumes in Orochimarus mind. The Sharingan possessed the power he needed, he had only to wait. Once The kyubbi had injured sasuke sufficiently, he would move in to take what was his. This body he possessed was becoming rather worn out.

"_The Hyugga girl tho, what was so special about her that Onyx would want her"_ Orochimaru thought.

He could see her frozen to the spot where the battle began. The dragon god was keeping her there for some unknown purpose. Her eyes unblinking, almost unfeeling. Perhaps the god needed a toy, after all eternity could be very boring if one lacked proper entertainment. Orochimaru sneered. Perhaps it would be prudent to see just what this girl has that makes her so desired by Onyx.

Hinata had watched the whole battle unfold from inside her mind. Sasukes pleas for help were not lost on her but she could not move to help him. The Dragon god Onyx had her rooted to this spot and she was terrified. She was loosing her friends. Sakura lay hurt not far from her, she was bleeding heavily. Naruto was dying front of her eyes and she had no control to close them or stop him.

"_Soon it will be over little one, soon we will see what decision you will make. You can be with your precious one still you know. Of course, he won't be the same. He will be darker, more easily angered but far more observant of you feelings. He would recognize what you want to give him little one Kyubbi would desire such a mate._" Onyx voice was still in her mind. _"Despair, yes, thats it, given into it my little one. It won't be long now!"_

"_I will never give up on naruto, he will; find a way to overcome you!"_ Hinata screamed in her head. _"I have faith in him. I love him and I will never give up on naruto!"_

Naruto in the mean time was struggling to hold on to the woman in front of him. The kyubbi was fighting hard to free itself of his grasp with the woman. If whoever was helping him hadn't intervened and helped him he was sure he would have lost his grip a long time ago. The kyubbi's form twisted and tugged, shaking itself violently around, struggling against the grip. They could see it wanted to be free.

"Why is this happening?" Naruto asked as he struggled against the mighty kyubbi's strength.

"He wants his weapon kit. He desires that which was lost to him long ago." The woman said as she tightened her grip of Naruto's and the other mans hands. "But I wont help him or anyone like him anymore. I don't want to be a weapon for him, Kit. I just want to be free."

The struggle continued on in the mind scape of naruto. The four hands grasping her arms were slipping sliding down the womans forearm allowing the kyubbi to pull a bit further back. The form of the Kyubbi suddenly lost another tail and the woman screamed out in pain.

Sasuke swiveled around as Naruto faced him in front of the waterfall. A dark mass of swirling red and black energy was held in his hand. He flexed his hands slightly as a second and third tail began to form. Sasuke quickly formed a Chidori in his hand as Naruto came at him, leaping the great distance of the chasm between them. Sasuke ran forward and leapt towards naruto, aiming to meet his jutsu with the chidori.

The two jutsus meet in the center of the waterfall and the reaction started to form as the two tried to over power the other. Chakra sparks and lightning flew off the two competing jutsus before a backlash occurred. A small ball formed between them and then around them, turning from red and white to utter darkness. The ball began to slowly shrink and then exploded, shattering the cliff all around them. The two were flung back as tons of rock fell on each of them, burring them on the banks opposite each other.

Naruto was still struggling but the hands holding the woman were giving way. The strength and force of whatever was pulling the kyubbi out was intensifying. A third tail suddenly flickered out of existence.

Sasuke managed to position himself from being crushed beneath the boulders but he found himself trapped buried from the shoulder down in the rubble. Across from his he could not see Naruto's body, and more and more rocks and boulders fell were naruto had landed. He couldn't see the kusanagi anywhere. He looked back to see sakura struggling to regain consciousness, but her wounds were grave and deep.

"_I can't keep this up forever. _"Sasuke thought knowing he was reaching his limit _"Got to either stop naruto cold or get everyone out of here some how"_

Sasuke looked back to see Orochimaru standing in front of him. The Sannin was beaten and torn up but had a triumphant look about him. Kneeling down he came eye level in front of Sasuke who continued to struggle to get out.

"My my, Sasuke, what a predicament you have here. Your friend is trying to kill you, his little girl over there wont move a finger to help you, your friend Darius is dead and now the woman you love is dying only a few yards away. And here we find you buried and helpless like the little child you are. My my, itachi would be disappointed at the turn of events. "Orochimaru told him.

The rubble burying Naruto exploded with a huge burst and spray of rock and a three tailed naruto slowly began to move forward where the sannin and sasuke were. His eyes glowed crimson red. His face and hands and body were altered even more.

"well, It looks like this is the end of the mighty Uchia. Such a shame to waste those eyes. " Orochimaru began saying slowly coming eye level with sasukes eyes. " Well, best not waste such lovely power since you want be needing these where you are going. It would have been so much easier on everyone if you had just cooperated Sasuke and come quietly. But im afraid the decision for pain is all on your shoulders"

Orochimaru pulled out a small jar with seals set on it and unsheathed a strange device as the kyubbi stood close by waiting. Sasuke struggled more freeing an arm but the sannin stepped on it pining it to the rock as he shoved the device over sasukes left eye and chuckled as he heard the gruesome scloorch as sasukes left eye was torn out of his head and deposited in the jar.

The scream was horrible as Sasuke thrashed, trapped. The pain was intense and the dull ache throbbed through his head. He couldn't escape, couldn't get away as orochimaru prepared to take the other eye. There was no stopping him.

Above the cliff face, light exploded out bathing the area in golden radiance. The Dragon gods head suddenly recoiled back and his power suddenly waned on Hinata. The light glowed still brighter causing the kyubbi possessed naruto to recoil away and seek a darker place away. Bright tendrils of light slowly came into focus as they slowly fluttered in some divine wind. Orochimaru could only look in shock as the image came out over the cliff face, a figure stood that was glowing with golden light brighter than the sun. The light seemed to form armor around him as he glanced down at the scene, his obscured by the golden suns that burned where his eyes were.

"YOU!!!!!" Onyx shouted.

"Yes, me! How many times must we do this?" the voice was like some grand archangel, deep and strong.

The figure leapt down and nimbly landed next to sasuke as the tendrils of light flowed out from its back. A tendril reached out and pulled the injured boy up and away from the battle, another reached out and engulfed Sakura, her form becoming engulfed in golden light. A third shot out and gently touched Hinata on the head the others raced out in front of him and wrapped around the sannin and through the snake clear across the canyon.

Sasuke still trembled and clutched the empty socket. He looked up and caught the image of the tendril in front of his face. Removing his hand, the tendril moved and engulfed the empty socket. Light poured out and sasuke staggered back and was suddenly caught by a fully healed sakura.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked astonished.

Inside Hinata's mind she saw the glowing golden figure appear. She staggered away from it as she looked in awe. The area in her mind changed from darkness to bright white light. Her mind seemed to ease and she couldn't help but wonder who or what stood in front of her.

"You are free from his grasp my friend. Help naruto. Follow what your heart says Hianta" the figure told her and all at once she recognized who stood in front of her.

"Darius san, are you dead?" Hianta asked.

He turned to face her. The light obscuring his face faded and he smiled at his friend.

"No Hinata, I am not dead. I am more alive than I ever have been. And I know a great many things Hinata. Whats in your heart and what feelings you have. But we will talk about this another time. I'm kind of on a tight schedule and theres a dark god that I need to take care. Tell Sasuke and Sakura to break the medallion." He told her and then vanished from her mind.

Outside, Darius turned an d looked up at the dark god who was staring in disbelief of what was before him. The figure of a Huge monolithic dragon came into view. With a great forward bound, Darius leapt up at it. Reaching the Apex of his jump he clasped both hands together high above his head.

_**KENJUTSU: GRAND DAIKLAIVE OF CONQUEST!!!**_

The Golden Radiance shot out of his clasped hands and a Massive Golden Sword of Light 30 feet tall formed in his hands. The blade was big, too big for anyone to wield and was raised high above him poised for a strike. A shift of his left hand down to the hilt changed his grip on the massive blade. With a great heave, the blade swung around, striking the darkness and a flash of gold exploded from the point of the strike. The tendrils lashed out and wrapped around the great dragons massive claws and whirled Darius up higher and over the massive maw that came down to engulf him. A series of hard strikes, and the sky was light up with golden explosions as the battle raged above the valley.

Hianta ran out over to Sasuke and Sakura. She came to a stop as the sannin in the distance wearily began to rise up and laugh. He held the Jar he had high in triumphant glory, an eye floating in the viscus liquid as he did with a red sharigan. Sasuke stared in disbelief as sakura removed his hand from the eye socket to observe the damage, steeling her for the worst. But she saw his left eye was still there and undamaged. The black pigment remained but the other eye had changed as well. Now instead of a red sharingan, it was a brilliant blue and the tomes were not black but silver.

The three tailed Naruto came bursting out at them and Sasuke barely moved the others in time as it rent the rock face to sunders in time. The red eyes strained in the presence of the golden light as it whirled around to face them. Sasuke retaliated but the kick was stopped in mid form by a pair of chakra hands and flung Sasuke high into the air and down intot he water beyond. His body struck the water hard and slowly sank down into the water, as the fall had driven him unconscious.

Sakura quickly moved to dive into the water after Sasuke. The possessed Naruto dove at her and was inches away before a chakra charged fist knocked him away. Sakura swam out and dived swimming as fast as she could to reach Sasuke who floated slowly down before she caught him by his collar. Breaking the surface a few moments later, she saw that Hinata was keeping the three tails on the defensive but not striking any blows to actually hurt the monster.

"Sakura, you have to break Orochimarus medallion. Darius said it was critical" Hianta said as she parried and dodged the blows that the three tails that were aimed at her. Sakura looked over and could see no way she could do that.

"_Maybe with Sasuke but I can't do it alone"_, Sakura thought_" I'm just too weak"_

The rubble sasuke had been buried exploded from a blow that came close to hitting hinata. The creature was getting more feral now and the longer it persisted, the greater the chance she could loose Naruto. Suddenly, the light from the battle over head glinted off steel, revealing to Sakura the location of the Kusanagi. She swam fast , pulling sasuke up to the bank who coughed a bit as she reached out and grabbed the sword.

Inside, the arms holding the woman were barely holding her hands now and they were on the verge of completely loosing her when a blow shook the entire mind scape knocking everyone and the kyubbi down. Naruto reached out and quickly reaffirmed his grasp on the woman and began hauling her to him as the kyubbi staggered slowly back to its feet and two tails reappeared on the great foxes end.

Seeing the kyubbi loose two tails suddenly, Hinata quickly pinned the one tailed Naruto that was stunned by its apparent lose of tails. She had a clear shot at the heart of Naruto and could have killed him but she did not want to hurt him. She could not. Thunder and light rumbled over head as she was torn with what to do. The Naruto beneath her struggled and fought against her as she struggled to do what she thought was best. There was no clear choice in her mind and she begged naruto to forgive her in what ever life they might lead next as she thrust her fingers at his heart. Only Inos hand stopped her from connecting with narutos heart.

"No, there is another option Hinata" Ino told her as she touched both narutos and her forehead with her fingers.

Hianta suddenly appear in a dank sewer, the sounds of a great animal filling the area before her, a great tail swept out in front of her and she found her self behind the great kyubbi. Beyond it she could see a great cage where a woman was being pulled by the kyubbi and four other arms beyond the cage where pulling her back. The woman was desperately trying to get away from the kyubbi and into the cage. Naruto was on the other side with a taller man behind that looked almost exactly like Naruto but no whisker marks, pulling at the red hair woman.

It became clear what she had to do. She knew she had to help Naruto get the woman to him and away from the kyubbi. Hinata ran to where the kyubbi had a hold of the woman and struck her jukken stance

Concentrating for a moment she opened her eyes and began her attack

"Hianta!"Naruto exclaimed seeing her appear from the darkness beyond.

8 Trigrams: 64 Palm Strike!!!

Aimed at the massive foxes forearm, she struck every point in the mighty shots fore paw, causing it to explode when the last strike hit. Explosion separated the fox form the woman and Naruto and the man drew the woman to them and into the bars. The fox suddenly shrieked in agony and dissolved into a burst of bubbles that dissipated into the air. Hinata picked her self up out of the sewage that flowed out of the cage and coughing as she stood on her feet. Before her she beheld the great cage. Naruto stood now on the other side of the cage the figures behind the cage faded back into the darkness.

As he fell to his knees from exhaustion, he found that Hinata had caught him, holding him up. Her arms wrapped around form the back, giving him support as he knelt before the cage exhausted.

_**Not bad kit. I have sorely misjudged you and your mate.**_

Both stared up to see the great fox inches from the cage staring down at them with eyes of red. But it held no malice at them, merely a simple relieved look from the mighty fox. Naruto could see the outline of the woman in the back, barely silhouetted by the great red foxes shape and for a moment, it seemed as if the shape emanated from the woman.

_**Do not waste time with words, even he can not fight the great Onyx for long kits.**_

Ino dropped her hands from their foreheads and panted as the jutsu faded suddenly. Naruto and Hianta blinked a few times, the flashes of light illuminating their faces as they stared at each other. Hianta has on top of Naruto, straddling his waist and her hand was on his heart. She could feel the beating through her hand as the racing beat began to slow. His clothes looked torn to shreds, and his hands and face hurt but neither made a move as they simply looked at each other.

Thunderous strikes resounded though the valley as a beam of light flew by and struck the water near them, causing the water to take a golden look. The others looked to see a great dragon land., its mighty stride easily covered both sides of the cliff face as it peered down into the water and then at the group on the bank. The distraction was costly as a great golden blade shot out of the water and struck the beat dead in its chest, shattering into great golden shards of light and hurdling the beast back high into the air with a deafening roar of anguish.

_**KENJUTSU: LANCE OF LIGHT!**_

Darius formed a great beam of light in his hand as he leapt back at the dragon, driving the mighty being back from his friends. He didn't know how much longer his body could handle being released as this. But he was determined to make every second count.

"Any day now guys!!!" he yelled back.

Orochimaru looked pale and tired , his feet sinking into the water. He turned to glance back at the group that had defied him. That boy with the light was so much trouble and orochimaru regretted not killing him. Still he had what he came for and Onyx would finish the rest. The prize of a sharingan, while not the best option was in his grasp, he would simply have to wait out the time it took to transfer.

A gout of blood exploded out of the sannins mouth indicating that he would have to wait several yeas before he would have his new eyes.

As he staggered off, he noticed that the Uchia and the pink haired girl were no where to be seen. Quickly looking around, he saw the two charging at him, Sasukle wielding the Kusanagi in his hand . The pink haired girl had a thick wooden branch.

"_Pathetic attempts"_ Orochimaru thought.

Orochimaru feebly parried the blow from sasuke but suddenly realized that he had been tricked, sasuke was wielding a stick. He whirled around to see sakura using the kusanagi and just missed with the swing as the sannins leg was caught and gouged deeply. In mid swing, she released her grip on the kusanagi and pivoted her body around, kicking the sannin who whirled a few feet in the air and skidded on the ground on one leg, the other leg separated from his body.

"Foolish boys and girls why smut you always try to play with the big boys to.." Orochimaru was finishing when a saber slashed across his back, gouging out a deep wound on his back from the wind enhanced slash.

Darius came crashing down and the great dragon slammed down on top of him, pushing its great bulk into its claw as Darius reached out and held the claw at bay. Slowly the rocks began cracking and giving causing him to sink down from the force applied. The tendrils of light were beginning to fade and he didn't have much time left. He knew he could trust his friends.

Orochimaru sneered as he whirled around to face the group. He concentrated and his leg regrew back from the separation. The three smiled at him as they faced him down. Sasuke brandished the kusanagi in his right hand with his left arm crossed across his body. Ino had her left arm on her hip, her saber pointed down in a fencing pose. Sakura had a smile on her face as had both her hands on her hips. But Orochimaru knew they didn't have much left in them.

"Why the smiling faces little ones? Already to given in are we?" Orochimaru boasted at them.

Sasuke smiled, and opened his left hand, showing the medallion that formerly hung around his neck, the chain that held it was snapped in two pieces.

"No, but I think this is checkmate don't you" Sasuke said as he tossed the medallion into the air and cleaved it clean in two with the Kusanagi.

The crystal hung in the air for a moment before it shattered into hundreds of shard and the onyx dragon in the center vanished. The blackness around them began to crack and lift, and then slowly dissipated, revealing the great starlight sky above them. Darius felt the great dragon suddenly fly into the air and disappear as the blackness lifted.

"You will regret not dieing little one!" his voice echoed through the night.

The three turned to finish Orochimaru but saw no sign of him. Hinata and Naruto managed to break the trance that they were in and get up to see the light on the cliff fade as the starry sky opened up before them. They blinked a few times as they saw the stars twinkling like never before. They almost seemed happy, if one can imagine happy looking stars.

The five made their way back up to the top, using whatever chakra they had left to make the climb quickly to their friend at the top. Darius lay against the cracked head of Hashirama Senju, staring up at the stars as they crested over the cliff. Next to Darius sat Gaara who looked up at the sky with him.

"See I told you they were magnificent didn't I?" Darius told the man sitting next to him.

"Darius! Gaara?" Naruto and Hianta cried and raced to hug their resurrected friend.

"How did you come back?" Naruto asked as Hinata looked at him worriedly.

Thats rather complicated but lets just say I wasn't really dead. "Darius tried to explain." I was just well, I don;'t know what to call it but I wasn't dead I know that."

"What happened Darius san, how did you do that?" Hianta asked him.

Darius thought a moment on how to answer. He opened his mouth to talk several times but stopped himself. In the end, he decided on the full and undisclosed truth.

"Ino saved me from the darkness with the help of a woman in white. She said I had a great light in me that was sleeping" Darius explained "and that was supposed to be what I will be like when I am ready for the abilities. Well I guess when I am grown up and into the abilities that I ….yawn.... have."

Darius began to feel exhaustion creeping up on him. He fought back to keep his thoughts on the now, even though his body felt heavy. He only had a few minutes at most before he would sleep and wanted to try and quell their doubts before he had no energy left.

Sasuke asked in a subdued tone, "What did you do to my eye Darius, why is it different now?"

I dnt know, maybe... something changed in you pr maybe it was both of us that made it change Sasuke... its really all a mystery...... to me s it is to you" Darius explained, his eyes were growing heavy.

Ino knelt down next to him. She looked concerned but knew what was coming as they starred at each other. Darius merely nodded and she knew. She took his head in her hands and gave Darius a long passionate kiss. His arms weakly wrapped around ino as he laid his head down on her chest.

"There was a price to pay my friends. I'm afraid you guys are going to have to continue your training without me for a while" He explained.

"Why, where are you going darius?" Naruto asked.

"No where... Naruto.. but the price was that my body would have to sleep off the effect...yawn... of what happened. "Darius finished as his eyes closed and his head gently sank into Inos chest.

"Wow, he must have been really tired Ino. So when will he wake up I wonder?" Naruto said.

Ino shed a few tears but smiled down happily at Darius. "Naruto, he wont be waking up for awhile. She told us that he would sleep like this for 2 years"she said softly, stroking his hair as he fell into the deep slumber.

"Wait did you just say 2 years, Ino?" Hianta said.

Gaara looked surprised as the others but remained silent.

Ino merely nodded. "It was his choice guys. He had the power to save us but it would be a terrible toll for him to not try. So, we made the choice together. For his family, for his friends, he chose to do this. But I am not afraid and you guys don't need to be either. He will wake up."

Hinata looked down dejected at the ground. Her tears came freely as she cried at the thought of darius sleeping that long for her. Why did he do that? She didn't deserve that friendship from him. She didn't deserve to love Naruto. If she had been stronger, she could have helped more. She could have saved Neji, saved Darius from the pain. She covered her face to hide the sadness as everyone except Ino looked at her.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her and she cried into his torn jacket.

"Hey, you heard Ino, she said he will wake up Hianta and Darius did it for you and me and all of us." Naruto said comforting his friend. "You know he wouldn't want you to be sad no matter what happened."

".... I y you to stop you, oh god, I I "she said as she cried.

He wanted to cry with her but he held strong for her, he had to be strong for Hinata. For everything that she had done for him, Naruto would be there no matter what happened. He was her protector and he remembered that promise he made to her almost a year ago at the academy. And he would never break his promise to her.

"I would never have held it against you Hinata. I can't ever be angry with you for something I should have stopped myself Hianta" his words comforted her as he continued to quell the sadness in her heart.

Gaara rose and offered to carry Darius back to Kohona. While Ibo wanted to, she knew it was better that she accept the help and Gaara seemed to be genuinely sincere about helping Darius. Forming a floating bed of sand, the group began to make their way back to Kohona, leaving behind them a scarred and changed landscape.

Off in the distance somewhere, to figures jumped the tree line out of the Land of Fire and out towards the Land of Sound. One with white hair and one in bandages and heavily bleeding.

"The subject is ready Orochiamru" Kabuto told him.

Orochimaru looked down at the single red eye that floated inside the liquid. This was truly a victory in the Sannins eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**Chapter 16 The Aftermath**

The sight of Kohona drew near as the group walked towards most of the groups home. They all walked silently beside the form of their sleeping friend, each lost in their own thoughts at what had transpired not hours before.

Hianta still thought about what she had almost done to Naruto over and over. No matter what he had said, she ahd lost faith in him that he would somehow not be able to pull through. And it was tearing her up emotionally. She hardly had made any sound the entire way back, even Gaara had made a few sighs of frustration.

Naruto was looking at his friend and back to Hinata. With everything that had happened, everything with Darius, Sasuke, Sakura and his friends, Hinata was always foremost on his mind. Her silence only told him that she was hurting and hiding it. He was all too familiar with such emotional pain. It was going to be a chore to get her to talk about it.

Gaara was still taking in the sight of a creature that made the demon sealed inside him want to run in fear. And after everything Naruto had told him, he thought he knew why. That still didn't settle the emotion that he could have done more to help them other than being the traveling stretcher for their friend.

Sasuke was relieved and troubled all at once. The words that orochimaru had said stung him and yet, he had faith now that the tragic events Itachi had brought about would be repaid. He had come out loosing an eye but gaining several new abilities. The blue and silver sharingan and the legendary sword Kusanagi. Only the sacrifice their friend had made for them was the only down to this day in his mind.

Sakura was glancing over at her two female friends. Hianta's solemn walk told her that she was hurting and Ino kept a stolid front for everyone but sakura knew her better. But what sakura could do eluded her. Sasuke has her only emotional support but she was going to have to be stronger for him the next time this happened. She was not going to slow him down and she had an idea of how she could become better.

Ino walked tall and calmly, her hand never left Darius's hand as they made the trip back to Kohona. They both had made the decision together and while she hated the fact that she was parted from him for so long, she knew that he was coming back and he would be alright. She glanced at his sleeping form and the thoughts of 2 years crossed her mind, making her weakly smile down at him.

It was late into the night when the group walked to the main gates of Kohona and met with several squads of anbu, chunnin and jounin ninjas waiting on their return. The Hokage herself was waiting for the group and all stood in attention as the group came into view. Gasps and murmuring were heard as they saw the form of Darius being bought in by Gaara of the Sand. Three Jounins rushed out to meet the group as they apporached. Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma.

Kurenai reached Naruto and Hinata and both looked up at her with sad looks on their faces. Both said nothing as she hugged them both. Asuma walked up to Ino, who looked up at her sensai and smiled a sad but strong heart felt smile. Kakashi walked up and for the first time anyone can remember, he hugged both the gennins he was training.

"Gaara of the sand, we thank you for the aid to our ninjas on this difficult mission. Your siblings are waiting in the hospital, tho they themselves are not hurt." Tsunade explained.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, i will go to them now once a stretcher has arrived for the one called Darius." Gaara explained.

Several med nins were already rushing over to where He lay as Ino reluctantly released his hand and they transferred him to the stretcher. The med nins brought the by over to Tsunade followed in step by Ino and Asuma. Tsunade knelt down to examine the boy but found no wounds, no signs of trauma, nothing that would indicate that he was injured.

"Chakra exhaustion, i will explain more to you in private about the matter hokage-sama. I wish to be excused to escort Darius to the hospital." Ino added and Tsunade agreed.

She left with Gaara not far behind, leaving the other four to answer the questions.

"With whatever happened still fresh on your minds, i think its best if we give these young ones time to deal with the magnitude of what had occurred. I am ordering you four to immediately report to the hospital for treatment and examinations." Tsunade said.

Naruto and Sasuke sat on seperate beds across form each other a few hours later. Naruto was heavily bandaged and looked out the window at the sky and the stars outside. Sasuke had various bandages covering his body in places where he had cuts and his arms were beginning to show the blue and yellow tone of deep bruising.

Sasuke kept glancing at naruto, wondering what to ask him but didn't know how to begin to ask.

"Naruto, why did the Kyubbi come out of you?" Sasuke began.

"Sasuke, you have had to figure out by now. You were always a lot smarter than i was. Even when you hardly tried in the academy and i worked my butt off, you were way ahead of me. You know exactly why the Kyubbi came out of me" Naruto told him. "So yeah to answer the question teme, the answer is yes, the kubbi is sealed in me. As far as why that Dragon could bring it out of me, i haven't the slightest clue."

Sasuke sat and pondered everything. It explained to him so much. The incident at the bridge, what happened during the chunnin finals. HowNnaruto always healed so fast and had such a huge amount of chakra. Why the village treated him so badly and the loneliness that Naruto felt. But Sasuke thought the dobe did well, breaking out eventually against that dragon. He honestly thought of Naruto as his friend, no matter what happened.

Naruto just sighed, not worrying about what Sasuke thought. In truth he was starring out at the stars but wondered only one thing. His thoughts were on a different person at the time. His mind told him over and over she was doing the right thing. He held no hate for her, he didn't think that it was possible to hate Hinata, there was just nothing there to hate about her. But he saw that she was anguishing over it and the thought made him hate everything about himself. It was his fault he had done this to her. He had done something that he never thought he would ever do. He broke his promise to Hinata. He didn't protect her when she needed him to. Naruto slipped back into his bed watching the stars outside as his mind raced with the thoughts over and over again, until, from sheer exhaustion, he feel into a deep sleep.

Hinata sat alone in her bed, her hands still trembling. The voice while gone still haunted her and she felt so weak at the moment. Her hands had come almost within an inch of killing him, killing her naruto. Why did she not have any faith in him. How could naruto ever want to see her again. How could she face every day with the knowledge that if Ino had not stopped her, that he would have been dead. She laid back in her bed and looked out into the starry night. Slowly her body and mind passed out from the exhaustion and she silently fell asleep, her tears drying on her face as she slept.

That dream came to them again that night, the darkness with the darker eyes but they saw more to it. The battle unfolded as before, the creature tho taunted them for their weakness. It drove them apart, the pain that they felt driving a deep wedge between them. And suddenly her voice rang out to them and they found themselves in a room of white light laying before the woman robed in white. Her face was saddened but she looked at them and smiled.

"Such pain, why do you weep the both of you?" her voice rang out as before, reverbrating with a sound of a legion of saints and angels singing gloriously.

"I, i could have k killed him. He would have d-died because of me because i was w weak great lady. I d don't deserve to b be his f friend." Hianta said turning her face in shame away from Naruto.

"I didn't live up to my promise. I let Hianta down and i wasn't there to help protect her. Darius had to sacrifice so much to fulfill the promise i should have kept and now he wont wake up. And why!? Because i became a monster. I hurt all my friends, i almost killed them all! I was so weak i couldn't fight it. And hinata had to sacrifice some of herself to stop me. She doesn't deserve this" Naruto cried out as he sunk to the floor.

Hinata could only stare at him as he cried on the floor.

"I tried so hard Hianta, but i couldn't stop it. If i had any control over it i would have stopped. But you had to make a decision in the heat of the moment when you couldn't have known if i was ever going to come out of it. Please, i don't want you to think that you made the wrong choice Hinata. Please." He cried covering his head.

"No Naruto, i don't blame you. I doubted you. I gave up on you and i thought you would never come back. I gave in to my worst fear Naruto. That you would never return to me, to us." Hinata said as she lifted up his face and sat back.

"This is the very pain that drove darius to almost give in to what Onyx tried to do. The doubt that will reside in your heart and it will only grow unless it is dealt with here and now young ones." She told them.

"These are pains that must be healed here and now. Doubt and Regret. To carry this pain too long will only lead to further unnecessary pain and now that it is out in the open, you must let it go and move on. " the woman said moving over to them and looking down at the two.

"I thought i had taught you two better than that, because together you can not fail in anything you do." The woman said as she walked away. The light grew bright suddenly and both awoke in their rooms to gaze upon the blue skies and the morning sun shining brightly outside.

Tsunade walked into the room with hinata and checked on her medical status. Hianta looked over at Tsunade as she examine dhte chart, slowly flipping pages as she finished them.

"Hokage-sama, is Neji-nisan alright?" Hianta asked.

The blonde hair woman looked up and smiled at Hinata. She had a much better look to her this morning.

"yes, Neji is resting in his roomand he will make a full recovery. The others also will be fine..."she explained as the door to hiantas room opened and naruto came walking in.

"Baahan, do... oh hianta" naruto said as he walked over to hianta who was sitting up in her bed and turned away slightly as naruto came up to her. Tsunade saw that they had something to discuss and she left them alone, moving on to check on the status of Ino and Darius down the hall.

"You had the dream too didn't you hinata." Naruto asked and hinata merely nodded in the affirmative.

She's right you know, we can't let this change us Hinata, and i don't ever want you to doubt your self again. You are the strongest and kindest person i know Hinata." Naruto praised her and smiled.

She looked up and saw his smile. After everything that had happened, he didn't hate her, not one bit and Hinata still couldn't understand why he didn't. She had shown her weakness when it mattered most.

Naruto lifted her head and Hinata found that Naruto hung the necklace he had won from Tsunade around her neck.

"Naruto, no! I can't...." She started to say.

"Yes Hianta, you deserve this. You did what you thought is right and i trust you completely Hinata. I thought about it for a long time, that wish i made on the monument that day long ago. The day Darius was found when i wished on that shooting star. But the more i think about it, the more i have come to realize. Darius was not the answer to my wish. He was the guide that led me to my best friend Hinata. You." naruto confided in her.

Hianta looked up in surprise as Naruto looked at her seriously. This wasn't a lie that he was making up to make her feel better. This was the honest truth and suddenly Hinata felt that pain lift from her, making her feel better about her self. She sat for moment before she reached out and hugged Naruto for his kindness to her.

"Thank you Naruto, i t-think i am feeling mu-much better and i know that you did ev-everything you could to come b-back to us now. I won't ever doubt you again. I p-promise." Hinata told him.

Tsunade walked a few flights up to a special room set up in the hospital. Picking up the chart on the door, she reached down to the knob and entered the room, closing the door silently behind her. There were no monitors in here, no sound of any medical equipment, simply a a curtain partition, some sparse furniture, and a table. A silver handled saber and belt lay on the table, the saber sheathed in a plain leather scabbard. Leaning against the wall next to hit was a blackened straight sword four feet long, unsheathed. The partitioning curtain was drawn seperating the room into two sides.

Tsunade walked around he partition to see the patient. The boy slept, not a mark of his face, his hair still matted and unkempt. Most of his clothes were lying a few feet away, neatly folded and out of the way. The boy slept silently, hardly breathing, hardly any movement. Next to him, a young blonde girl slept, her back against the wall in a cot. Her was lulled to one side pressed against the boys head. Her face was covered in dried streaks were tears had dried once she had fallen asleep. Her breathing was the only noise that made any substantial sound in the room.

Tsunade gently knelt down to check the boys vital signs. His heart rate was slowed significantly but still beat strong. He was cold, colder than what should be normal but what ever was happening to him kept him at a lower body temperature. For all intents and purposes, this boy was in a deep coma and there was no telling when the boy would wake up. She scribbled down some orders on the chart, slowly making her way out of the room, leaving the two in the dark, and quietly exited.

It was a short time later that Ino opened her eyes, thinking maybe it was all a dream. But she saw that was was in a medical hospital and Darius was sleeping in the bed next to her. She reached down and rubbed the temple between her eyes and stretched a bit, her neck popping a few times as she rose. She took her time to make sure that the boy was comfortable before she reluctantly acknowledged the fact that she had to eat and drink something and made her way to the door. She grabbed the belt and saber from the table and strapped them on before quietly exiting the room into the hall and made her way down stairs.

Passing by a room she glanced in to see the sand siblings talking to shikamaru & Choji who looked up at her as she passed and smiled to her. She gave a wave and continued on her way, Several rooms down, she came across Sasuke and Sakura, smiling and laughing to kakashi's expense. Kakashi looked unmoved only reading his book and he glanced over to her as she walked past the room. She passed many people in the hall, most of the med nins she didn't recognize, a few she remembered from the shop. But she was generally lost in her thoughts as she made her way to the cafeteria and sat down with a plate of food.

She poked at the food that she had before her, taking an odd bite here and their, the conversations of the room were generally ignored. She really didn't have much of an appetite at the moment and had only reluctantly come down to force her self to eat at least something. She never noticed the man sitting in front of her take his seat and watched her for 20 minutes before he finally made a sound.

"Bad mission pumpkin" the man said in a voice familiar to Ino.

She snapped out of her daze to look over at her father sitting next to her, a look of concern was written on his face as he looked at his distraught daughter. It took Ino a full minute to realize it was her father and then only a few seconds to break down and hug him in tears. Her father sat and held his daughter as she continued to cry into his chest.

"Its ok, I'm here Ino, you can let it all out now" Inoichi told her with a lovingly fatherly voice.

Inoichi sat there in the cafeteria listening to his daughter explain what had happened the last few days. The battle they had, everything that happened when she lost Darius and her confession to him. The sudden starless blackness that blanketed the nation on the mid day and the battle itself after words.

They sat in silence back in the room where Darius slept, unmoving. There was not a word that either of them could say to one another. But her father sat there as a parent is want to do and be there for his daughters pain, to lessen it if he could and to bear it with her.

"Ino, I know you want to be here everyday, every minute for him but you have to remember that he will wake up. Someone will always be with him and you know he is with you where ever you go pumpkin. Life moves on and you have to continue to be the strong person he would want you to be" Inoichi explained.

"Dad, I want him close to us. I don't want him to be here or to wake up here. Please, daddy, talk to the Hokage and let them move him to the house. I won't do anything inappropriate, I promise, please, daddy, please." Ino begged.

Generally under the circumstances, Inoichi would be dead set against this but considering the magnitude of what she explained and the fact that his heart melted from his daughters desperate plea, he let out an exasperated sigh. He always had trouble telling his daughter no and this boy seemed to be bringing out responsibility in her. Plus, the boy couldn't do anything while he was asleep.

"Okay pumpkin, I'll make the arrangements" Inoichi conceded.

Naruto was released from the hospital not logn after and hianta had to stay for observation for the wound to her leg. He had left the hospital and looked for ino but found her with her father. She didn't even seem to acknowledge him, just staring at her food. Sasuke and Sakura were on a different floor as well. And his stomach told Naruto that it was time to enjoy his favorite past time. Ramen.

Naruto walked into the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Ramen was about the only thing he could think that would take his mind off of everything that had happened.

"Hi Ayame!" Naruto shouted as he enetered the stand.

"Naruto, well, its been a while, have a seat and ill get your usual ok!" Ayame said cheerfully to him.

A minute later, Ayame had placed a steaming bowl of Ramen in front of him and he reached over and broke the chop sticks in two and began to reach down to dig in. But instead of his usual wolfing it down attitude, Naruto took his time with his bowl, savoring the flavor half heartedly.

"Naruto? Are you ok? Your generally on your fifth bowl by now and you have barely even eaten half of that one?" Ayame asked. "Is it trouble with your girlfriend?"

Naruto stared up at Ayame and the blank look on his face told her it was a lot more than just the hyugga girl that was on Naruto's mind. The stand wasn't busy at all and her father had no problems with keeping up with the few orders that he did have as Ayame sat down by Naruto.

"Is it Hinata, Naruto?" she asked softly.

"No.. yes... its ...complicated Ayame. We just got back from a mission and … Darius" Naruto trailed off.

Ayame gasped and put her hand over her mouth, thinking the worst had happened.

"I'm so sorry Naruto, it is never easy to loose a good friend" Ayame began to explain.

"He's not dead, its... complicated like I said... Hianta... I... " Naruto didn't know how quite to explain the entire situation without revealing everything to Ayame and he liked the ramen stand. It was one of his favorite places to eat.

It was about this time that Jiraya walked by and peeked in the ramen stand and saw the person he was seeking. Bending down Jiraya entered the stand and walked over to the two sitting at the bar. Naruto had that glazed look in his eye as the cute ramen girl sat next to him. Jiraya thought to himself how beautiful the girl was as he sat opposite Naruto.

"Hey Naruto I was just looking for you."

"Ero-sensei?" Naruto began

"Please Naruto would you stop calling me that for the hundredth time, I came all this way to look for you you know. If your done, I'd like for you tto take a walk with me so we can talk ok?" Jiraya explained to his student.

Naruto looked over at Ayame who smiled at him and told him not to worry about the ramen. She gave him a big sister hug and told him to go and walk with Jiraya. Naruto looked up and smiled as he slide off his chair and walked out with Jiraya. The two walked down the street to the park where they found a bench to sit on.

"Listen Naruto, I know this has all been a hard week for you and your friends but hear me out. " Jiraya began to explain to him." I'm gonna be in the village for about a month. Orochimaru apparently slipped off the face of the elemental nations as soon as he got what he wanted. I'm betting he had to switch bodies because of the damage you and your friends did to him, so he can't possess the sharingan for at least 3 years. I also discovered that the Akatsuki has gone dormant as well, with everything that happened on the Black day. They are still going after you Naruto and I need to know exactly why. A lot of my intelligence points that they are gathering supplies and funds for something big and it has something to do with the tailed beasts" Jiraya explained to him.

"So, this doesn't necessarily have to do with me, it has to do with the Fox thats sealed in me then right?" Naruto said observantly. "They want the fox and the others as some sort of weapon that they can use. Am I about on track Ero … master Jiraya?"

Naruto using his formal name threw him for a moment. It was the first tiem that he had ever done that to Jiraya and it made hima little concerned with Naruto's state of mind. The kid had been through hell and back, loosing almost all control to the Onyx dragon. But the kid would lvoe what he was about to offer him.

"Yes Naruto, I suspect as much. But here is my proposition for you. When I'm done here, I'm going to be leaving for 2 years on a journey around the nations to gather as much information as I can on Akatsuki and this Onyx dragon." Jiraya said getting to the offer" When I go, I was going to offer you and your friend Sasuke there to accompany me, I f you want to come."

"Why do you want me and Sasuke to go?" Naruto asked with some suspicion.

"One, it will give you two protection to be with me. You are going to be hunted by the  
Akatsuki and Sasuke is going to be watched by Orochimaru as well. Since Sasuke has the Kusanagi, Orochimaru is going to want it back. And that gives me a chance to gather more intelligence on him and his organization" Jiraya explained and continued "Two, it will give me time to help you two with your training as well. You two and that Darius kid show a lot of potential and the remaining Sannins aren't going to be living forever you know. We need to train other people to take our places. With Sasuke's new sharingan form, we need to see exactly what it can do and you Naruto are the key to that. Plus, I really like you Naruto. You remind me of one of my students I had a long time ago. That same determination to succeed was the same as his."

"Yeah and who was that Sensei?" Naruto asked glumly.

"Why the fourth Hokage of course! You guys have some qualities in common that shows me just how powerful you can become." Jiraya said with a smile.

Naruto looked over at Jiraya in astonishment. He just compared Naruto to the fourth Hokage. Could it be that he could achieve his dream by following the same path as the great Fourth Hokage.

"Alright Ero-Sensei, i'll do it if you think its best. At least the teme won't be jealous of me becoming more powerful than him now." Naruto said with a smile.

Jiraya was about to say something to Naruto but then stopped himself and laughed. The kid just was so much like Minato it was almost like he was training his prized student all over again.

"Well, put your things in order and get ready, because in a month we are leaving. Sasuke already agreed to the offer earlier in the day hinging on the fact that you come as well. I'll check in on you from time to time Naruto." Jiraya said as he got up and walked off.

Naruto smiled as Jiraya disappeared into the streets of Kohona. He had to go talk to Hinata right now he realized.

Naruto walked the stairs and turned a corner and passed by several nurses that shot him disgusted looks at him. It was the one thing he wouldn't miss. Approaching her room he noticed that a hyugga man stood outside Hinatas room. He could hear voices inside and moved to knock on the door when the Hyugga man stopped him from his action, grabbing his hand as he went to knock and gently lowering it.

"I'm sorry but you will wait, there is official business going on inside, Naruto-san, you will have to wait before entering." the Hyugga man explained.

"How long is it going to take if I can ask?" naurto asked the hyugga man.

"I cannot say.." The hyugga man explained as the door suddenly opened and naruto was in front of Hizashi Hyugga.

Hizashi looked rather annoyed a the moment and Naruto was not moving as he thought about what to say to Hinata's father. But he was never given the chance as Hizashi merely pushed him aside rudely and walked past him.

"Think about what has been said here daughter" Hizashi said, glaring down at naruto before walking off.

The hyugga man bowed low and followed.

Naruto knocked on Hinatas door and a weak enter was responded. Naruto opened the door to see Hianta sitting on the edge of her bed facing away form the door and looking out the window, her legs pulled up close to her body and clasping the necklace that Naruto gave her.

"Hey Hinata, what was all that about?" Naruto asked her as he made his way over to his friend and sat on a chair near by. "You can always talk to me you know."

"I know Naruto. Its so hard tho. M-my uncle has t-told m-me that I am to fight Hanabi when she turns 15 for the right to l-lead the clan. The one t-that looses gets put in the b-branch family. "Hianta said sadly" I c-can't f-fight my sister N-Naruto but if I d-don't, I will f-forfeit. I just d-don't know what to do."

"Hey its ok, you got plenty of time to think about it Hinata or not think about it. By then Darius will be awake and ill be stronger, you will be a lot stronger too. "Naruto told her." Besides, I told you I would protect you Hinata. You can always trust me ok"

His strength helped to ease her thoughts and she looked forward to being stronger with him.

"Oh, I forgot what I came here for Hinata. Ero Sensei just asked me to go training with him. But I needed to tell you its going to take me out of the village for awhile. " Naruto told her.

"Ho-How long w-will you b-be gone, Naruto-kun?" Hianta asked, dreading being parted too long from her source of strength.

"Sensei said about 2 years, so about the time that Darius wakes up, we will be back." Naruto said.

"2 YEARS!?" Hinata yelled loudly.

Her heart sank at the thought of Naruto being gone for so long. How would she deal with all of the problems with her family without Naruto here to help her.

"Hey I know its a long tiem but you have a piece of me with you always Hianta." Naruto said golding up the necklace tht was around her neck and smiled. "Besides, with everything with the kyubbi and sasuke and darius, I need to do this for everyone Hinata. I don't ever want to be used like I was again. And Jiraya can help me control my emotions and get in tune with the fox. Besides, ill write when ever I can ok?" naruto said trying to comfort her.

"Remember, you still have Ino, Kurenai sensei, Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Lee and Tenten around to help too. They are your friends too. I won't be sad if your not sad ok?" Naruto softly told her.

Hinata thought on it all and she had to agree, it was the best for him, for everyone. He moved over to her and gave her a nice big bug to comfort her.

"Besides, you guys have me for one more month ok, so I'm not leaving right away. And as soon as you are out of here, we are going to go to Ichiraku ramen, just you and me ok. My treat." Naruto told her.

Hianta blushed, _"was this … was Naruto... asking.. her on a … DATE!!!?"_

She turned a deep shade of red and composed herself for a moment before smiling and agreeing with a firm "Hai!"


	17. Chapter 17

I do not own naruto and i don't pretend to.

Darius is my own creation and belongs to me

**Chapter 17 Goodbyes**

A week had passed since they had come back from the Valley of Ends. Everyone had been realized from the hospital by this point. Even Neji, who was the worst off, was released into the Hyugga family care. Tsuande admitted that it would take him longer to become available for mission duty but she felt that he was no longer in danger as long as he didn't exert himself too much.

It was a bright morning this particular day. No clouds were visible and the morning started off cool. Most of the Teams and their sensei's were gathered in front of the hospital this morning. Neji was wheeled around in a wheelchair by Tenten to prevent himself from exerting himself. Jiraya was also present along with the Sand siblings this day. Tsuande, Inoichi and Ino appeared from the hospital along with several nurses as the stretcher was brought out holding their sleeping friend. This was the day he was being transferred to the Yamanka house for the duration of his sleep. Not one person their wanted to miss the transfer. Naruto & Shikamaru took the front of the stretcher and Lee and Sasuke took the back and lifted it. The precession was silent the entire trip to the house, neither had nothing that they could say that would make the transfer any less solemn than what it already was.

At the house, the gates were open and waiting. The group entered and made their way to a room prepared for Darius's long sleep. Inside the room were flowers, most of the maps that Naruto, Hianta and Ino had transferred over from his apartment. Astrological charts, hand drawn sketches of the constellations and Extensive hand written notes in a journal that Darius had kept for a few years after he became an apprentice smith to Tenten's father, written in the language of the smiths.

They held a wake here for their friend that lasted through the morning and into the afternoon. Everyone discussed different things about what their first impression was when they met Darius and how he had changed each of them in some way. Neji admitted that he admired Darius love of freedom, exploring where he wanted. Tenten showed a prized kunai that Darius had made for her. It had never lost its edge, no matter how many times she had used it. Sakura remembered the time that he had come cross her carrying water back to her place and took the time to help. Choji admitted that he had always inspired him to try and get a hobby, even tho Choji never did pick up anything. Shikamaru told them how Darius had shown him a stratagem that Shikamaru had never really considered in shogi. Sasuke remained silent, saying that he would rather not discuss his friend but admitted that Darius had helped to inspire faith in himself. Lee admitted that his tireless pursuit of exploration showed Lee the youthfulness of the boys heart. Naruto and Hinata shared the many times that their friend had been their for them. Ino said nothing, but nothing needed to be said.

The group slowly left one by one until only Ino , Hianta and Naruto remained. They sat surrounding the friends for a time and then Hinata and Naruto gave their friend a hug before they walked out with a glance back. Once they were all gone, Ino went about her business, organizing the room a bit better. She came across a journal of his explorations and sat next to him and started to read.

After a quick goodbye, they went their separate way, Naruto going to his apartment to get ready, washing himself up for the treat that Naruto was treating Hinata too. He took his time and wondered how he should dress or the occasion. Formal? Casual? In the end, Naruto picked casual, picking out his cleanest attire and toned down The orange. He was trying his best to not embarrass Hinata by styling his hair but he had a hard time trying to get the blonde spikes to cooperate.

Hianta had picked out a nicer outfit, elegant and yet reserved, she figured Naruto would dress more casually and that was fine with her. She hung the necklace Naruto had given her in front, the pendant was more outstanding against her white attire.

She walked towards Iruchika's but when she didn't find Naruto there, she walked towards Naruto's apartment. She knocked on the door and Naruto came to the door with a mess of hair gel in his hair.

"Oh, hi Hinata, i was trying to style my hair but i think i made a mess of it....." Naruto said trailing off as he looked at his friend with amazement.

"Wow Hinata you look.... Amazing!" Naruto exclaimed, never seeing her look more beautiful ion all his life. "Guess I know now for sure that I'm taking a princess for dinner. And my hair is a mess too, oh man, im such a loser."

Hinata actually couldn't stop her self and laughed at the sight of the blonde's hair a mess, spikes refusing to be tamed. She laughed hard and snorted for a moment, covering her mouth as she blushed from the outburst.

"Hianta channn!"Naruto said in a childish " wanted to try and look nice for you. But this won't cooperate." Naruto said pointing to his mess on his head.

Hianta finally broke down and led Naruto back into his apartment and fixed his hair, leaving the spikes as they were. She told Naruto that while she appreciated the effort, she would much rather have a pleasant time with her best friend they way he was.

Hianta and Naruto arrived together for their evening at Iruchikaru Ramen. Naruto Took the time to actually be polite, treating Hinata to a pleasant meal. Ayame complemented Naruto on his manners through the night and told Hinata that Naruto actually asked her how to be politer when treating a friend to a nice dinner.

Hinata smiled at the thought. "_Naruto was trying to be politer for me"._

Naruto was trying his best to be better for her. He of course still bungled, slurping his noodles, reaching over the table without asking. But in the end, she was happier with Naruto being Naruto.

After the ramen, Hinata and Naruto took a walk. The Night was bright and the moon was low and full as they walked through the park. Naruto sat on a bench and chatted the night, glancing up at the stars occasionally and then down at his watch, checking the time. It made Hinata wonder if perhaps the conversation was boring him.

"N-Naruto-kun, is...am I B-boring Y-you?" she asked Naruto shyly.

"Not at all Hianta chan, I remember something Darius had told me about this particular night and i thought we could share it together. Just watch the sky for a bit, Hinata, i think you will be surprised" Naruto told her.

She looked up at the sky and saw a streak in the sky. A few minutes went by and there was another. Followed quickly by another and another. Before long the sky was seemingly filled with streaks of light, shooting over and over again. They sat silently as the steaks peaked and then waned for an hour until only an occasional streak shot through her and there. Hinata had never seen anything like it.

"Naruto-kun, h-how did Darius f-find out about this?" Hinata asked.

"He said it was something that he stumbled on one day" Naruto explained with a shrug. " He has tons of journals with this stuff in them, I wonder where Darius ever found the time to actually do all of it. But it was a few years ago that he showed me this and told me that I should try and show you this one day. I think today was the best time to Hinata chan"

Hinata smiled softly and had to agree. It was a sight to see and reminded her of times when her mother would show her the constellations and talk to her about the lights in the sky. Now, she got to share that with Naruto and all her troubles for the time didn't seem to matter. She raised up to put her hand on her heart to steady her self and touched the first hokages pendant. The gesture and symbolism was so profound to her that an idea was struck in her head.

The two walked the streets of Kohona that night and were silent. When they reached the Hyugga estate Naruto gave a sheepish grin and wondered what the best way was for a good night. The silence was rather awkward and Hinata began to turn when Naruto reached out and hugged her suddenly goodnight.

"Good night Hinata chan" Naruto told her as he broke the hug and turned to walk back to his apartment. He felt something strange when he had hugged Hinata and this feeling confused the Naruto. It was unlike anything he had ever felt.

"Good night Naruto kun" Hianta said as she stepped inside the estate.

A sigh of happiness as she propped her self against the door, staring dreamily at the night sky as another streak of bright light came and went. She hurried through he gardens, passing a few hyugga branch members who bowed and gave their lady room to move before she came to her room. Gently sliding the door open and then closed she moved through the sparsely furnished room and to her closet. Fumbling through some clothes, she found the object she was looking for and brought it out, sitting down on her bed. The box was a mahogany jewelery case, finely made with inlays of silver and a silver lock. Brushing aside a bang of hair, she opened it and reached in and pulled out the object she had been searching for. A single diamond, dozens of karats in weight, perfectly formed.

She held it in her hand as she placed the box down on the stand next to her bed and held the diamond in her hand. The light caught it and danced in a multitude of colors and gave the diamond a wondrous glow. She clasped it in her hand and held it to her heart as she thought about naruto, her eyes growing heavy and slowly closed.

A week passed quickly after that. Naruto was busy packing and Hinata had to deal with the unfortunate turn of events with her family. The training the two girls received was grueling. The hours of training in perfecting their forms under the watch of their father in disguise as their uncle and guardian.

Teams 7, 8 and 9 were gathered outside the gate of Kohona, along with Jiraya and Tsunade. Hinata was excused from her training to participate in the escort mission. A large group of people with tan robes were seen leaving the city gathering for a trip back home, to Sunagakure . Temari, Kankuro and Gaara meet the three ninja teams that had been assigned to escort them back home. Jiraya had asked to accompany the Escort mission due to the members involved. And Gaara, being the senior representative had agreed.

It was a week later that the ninja teams returned, the mission was spectacularly uneventful. None would dare to assault the group under the protection of Gaara, Jiraya and Kakashi. The noterity alone drove fear into the hearts of those that had even considered it. The 3 teams seemed to knit well much better these days. While there were still jabs at each other, mainly Naruto and Sasuke, nothing was taken too far and differences were settled.

The return of the teams meant the time for departure was half way there. Kohona had never looked so busy these days. Comings and goings of the ninja teams. Commerce picking up as the next set of Exams were due to arrive soon. Sasuke and Naruto both regretted that they would be unable to participate in the exams but they knew the training would be better for everyone.

Tsuande had her hands full, the paper work was becoming insurmountable and the elders were always on her case about it. The two of Sarutobi's former team mates were troublesome but they had their hearts int eh right place. It was Danzou that gave Tsunade headaches worse than any hangover she ever had. She had already denied his request 3 times to have Darius moved to a more private location. The insistence however was insulting her.

"Shizune, send that weasel of an adviser Danzou in please" Tsunade told her assistant, rubbing her temples.

Shizune stepped out and returned a minute later with a Hobbled old man, ½ of his body was covered in bandages and walked with cane and a limp. He slowly walked to his seat in front of Tsunade and stood in front of it looking down at the woman behind the piles of paperwork on the hokage's desk. The desk that in his mind should be his.

"You summoned me Hokage-sama?" Danzou asked.

"Danzou, I don't want to see another one of these requests on my desk again. The boy is under the Care of the Yamanka family and they have all that they need for the boy there." Tsunade began speaking, regretting the fact hat today she had to be sober. "Why are you persisting in trying to take that boy into the root organization Danzou?"

"Hokage-sama, you know that the ROOT organization is defunct and no longer funded. As for the requests, I only wish to help the lad for all that he has done for Kohona. " Danzou said with tact. "He was responsible for saving the lives of no less than 4 gennin ninjas and the suna representative and uncovered a previously unknown ally of Orochimaru's. I assure you my intentions are honorable."

Tsunade frowned and furled her eyebrows together. She knew damn well that his intentions were far from honorable and he could only want Darius for one reason. The secret weapons program. She knew it still existed and while there was no paper trail that lead to it, she had reports from her spies that it thrived. The very disappearance of a certain captured nin prisoner had made this point beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"What ever your intentions, they stop now. Inoichi has personally made the request and has been granted by me. I'm sure you did not wish to impugn on the Yamanka clans business as they have taken this boy in do you?" Tsunade said to him, causing Danzou to frown.

"Of course not, I will immediately withdraw all my requests then. Was there other business you summoned me for other than the boys well being hokage sama?" Danzou asked with a hint of displeasure in his voice.

"No, you are dismissed Danzou" Tsuande said before she swiveled her chair to face the town.

Hinata ran out of a store, she was in a hurry and she was late. Today was the day that Naruto and Sasuke would be leaving and she just had to make it in time before he left. She had in her hand a ornately wrapped gift, silver foil with a lavender bow. She dodged through the hustle in the town. The crowds were much heavier now that the chunnin exams had arrived and Kohona was hosting them again because of the unexpected interruption during the last exams. So the town was very busy to say the least.

The group had gathered outside the gates again, probably for the last time in a long while. Jiraya, Naruto and Sasuke each carried heavy packs. Sasuke had the Kusanagi securely strapped to his back with it safely sheathed in a black ivory sheath that Sakura had made for him. The Uchiha family crest and kanji was intricately carved in the sheath. They were busy exchanging their goodbyes while Naruto and Jiraya waited.

Hinata came bounding towards the gate, her arms and legs carrying her as fast as she could to try and catch Naruto. As soon as she came into view, Naruto sat up and waved at her before realizing that hinata hadn't seen where he was sitting and her head turned as she dodged by a bystander.

"Hinata look o.."Naruto yelled before she collided with Naruto, sending the two tumbling together before comign to a rest with Hinata lying on top of Naruto again.

"Oh, im sorry, I …. NARUTO!?" she said as she looked into the blue eyes.

Realizing she was sitting on her friend,s he turned a light shade of red before she leapt up profusely apologizing for barreling over her best friend. Naruto was still stunned a bit. Not only had she knocked the wind out of him but he thought that... but quickly dismissed it as he shook the cobwebs from his head. Jiraya smirked as he watched the whole incident, scribbling away at his notes during the whole interaction.

"Wow Hianta, you can really run fast when you want to get somewhere can't you" naruto told her.

"Oh... I-I'm s-sorry Na-Naruto-kkun, I wa-wanted to -g-g-give you th-this before you left" she told him as she held out the the intricately wrapped gift.

"Really, thats for me!? Wow your the best hianta chan" naruto exclaimed as he took the gift from her.

Naruto looked it over and was wondering where we would start opening the gift from. Testing each corner of the paper, he finally decided on a place to start and in an uncharacteristic like manner carefully undid the bow and the wrapping paper and looked at a plain wooden box. Looking over at hinata witjh a curious look, naruto didn't understand the significance of being given a box as a gift.

"Dobe, its whats in the box." Sasuke chided Naruto.

"OH!" Naruto exclaimed.

Opening the box, he looked in to see what Hinata had made for him. A perfect replica of the first hokages pendant, strung with a chain of silver. The pendant differed slightly in that instead of a set of emerald crystals, it had a single huge diamond center shaped in a tear shape. The sides of the pendant were not crystal but made of Polished platnium, that seemed to reflect the light into the pendant which caused it to look like it glowed.

Naruto stared at it and his eyes were wide. "HINATA, OH MY GODS, I cant... this... tooo.. expensiv..."

Hianta smiled. For once he was the one who was stuttering. She looked up at him and beamed that he was so impressed by the gift.

"But Naruto kun, the pendant you gave me is said to be priceless. So I think I am still making out better with our friendship, don't you agree." Hianta said and never once stuttered as she giggled when she finished.

Naruto looked over and saw the pendant he had won hanging around her neck and smiled. Putting the pendant around his neck, it felt lighter and the diamond was warm to the touch. He felt a strange warm feeling surge through his body from head to toe when he touched it. The gift had brought a small tear to his eye as he took in the magnitude of the significance it meant to him. Hinata wanted him to come back. And he regretted having to leave a bit more on this day.

"We will all be waiting for your return you two. So make the best of the time you guys have and train the hardest you can. And watch each others back. You guys are all you have outside of these walls, Sasuke and Naruto" Tsunade told them.

She knelt down and hugged Naruto and gave Sasuke a heart felt hand shake before returning to her position at the gates. Jariaya frowned and looked over at his former teammate.

"What no kiss for luck for an old friend?" he asked.

The look of anger in Tsuande's face told him that no, he wouldn't get that. For as long as he had known her though, he had never stopped so it was no surprise. He considered himself lucky he wasn't getting an involuntary head start to the trip.

"Ok you two, lets get our selves moving, we have a long road ahead of us and my contact is in a village a few days from here." Jiraya explained. " and I don't want to have to push too hard for the first few days, so say your goodbyes and lets move."

Sakura gave Sasuke one more kiss and hug before he told her goodbye and joined Jiraya who was already down the road a bit. Naruto told his friends good bye one by one. Hianta was the last and seemed to be fighting with some thought that was on her mind. Standing in front of her with a huge grin, he proudly gave her a thumbs up. Hinata looked at him and then smiled.

"Lets go dobe, your falling behind" Sasuke said back at him as he caught up to Jiraya.

With a final look back naruto waved as he started slowly down the path. Hianta turned not wanting to watch Naruto disappear. She almost ahd the courage to tell him but she didn't want to ruin everything for his trip or make him any sadder than he already was. She was thinking about so many things she never saw naruto race back and kiss her on the cheek before he ran back to Jiraya and Sasuke.

Hianta looked slowly to where he was disappearing. Sakura and Ino watched Naruto who was disappearing at the turn and back to Hinata, who was turning a new shade of red, frozen in her placements

"_Naruto just gave me a kiss......" _She realized and then promptly fainted there on the spot. Collapsing down into the soft grass on the side as Sakura and Tsunade caught the poor open, a smile on her face.

She never saw Naruto's front as he caught up with thew others, his face a bright red at the thought of what he just had done. Its what he saw a lot of Men do to the girls they left behind and it was the only thing he could think of that seemed to make sense. Still, he felt like he was going to get siuck, his stomach churned from excitement and nervousness.

"_And i thought the kid would never have the guts" _Jiraya thought smiling down at Naruto.

"So, what are you going to teach us Ero-sensei!?" Naruto asked.

"NARUTO!!!" Jiraya screamed.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

This concludes the Series one story i ahve titled Beginnings. Even while i was writing this, i had already started wiht a few stories that will come later titled Awakenings. I hope you ahve enjopyed the ride my imagination has taken you on so far. Again, my typos are horrendous in this series because these are rough drafts that have come straight out of my thoughts with little revisions.

Rhomulus


	18. Chapter 18

I do not own Naruto, in any way shape or form.

Darius is, of course, mine.

**New series**

**Awakenings**

The new series takes place 2 years after the end of Beginnings. This new series will be titled

One Wish for Hope: Awakenings.


End file.
